Tuesday, 16 June 2026

 Evan MULHOLLAND (Northern Metropolitan) (22:06): (2587) My adjournment is for the Minister for Environment, and the action I seek is for the minister to urgently tackle the dumped rubbish crisis affecting the growth areas of Melbourne, particularly in Melbourne’s north. I would point particular attention to Somerton Road in Greenvale, Camp Road in Broadmeadows, the area surrounding Mickleham Road in Craigieburn and Yuroke and the area surrounding Roxburgh Park train station.

Minister, some days do not go our way, as I am sure you know, and they are not going the way of our residents in the northern suburbs, particularly with the dumped rubbish crisis we are seeing in the north. Residents particularly around the City of Hume and places like the City of Whittlesea and Mitchell shire want to have pride in their community. They want to live in a community where they feel proud of it, where it is an attractive place to come to and go to, and they are proud of where they live. But because of the dumped rubbish crisis that we are seeing, that is not the case too often. Councils are doing their part. Hume City Council now spends over $8 million on dumped rubbish and offers a range of services, including timely clean-up of dumped rubbish. Yet on our state arterial roads and state-owned land we are seeing dumped rubbish stay there for months.

I know it is the same in the western suburbs, in the south-eastern suburbs and in northern Victoria, and I know through Mitchell shire as well. The government is not cleaning up its rubbish, and it needs to give this issue the urgency it deserves. We saw in government media releases they promised the increase in the waste levies a few budgets ago would enable the EPA to do the work to tackle this crisis, and the councils that I speak to consistently scoff at that claim. They claim the EPA has done nothing to address this crisis affecting our communities, and all the increase in the waste levy has done is spring up a whole bunch of black-market open-air waste incinerators in the very same suburbs in the growth areas of Melbourne. This government is not taking this issue seriously. We need a serious response for a serious crisis. It is quite clear that if you want to get rid of dumped rubbish, you have just got to dump Labor this November.