26-7-07

 

Media Release

 

Orica HCB Waste Issue: Greens ask Garret “What’s the Plan?”

 

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The Botany sited Orica HCB waste issue has suddenly become an election campaign issue for Federal Labor MP Peter Garret in his seat of Kingsford-Smith.

 

Randwick City Council has voted to ask State Labor MP Michael Daley about what plans he has made with Garret for removing the waste.

 

Greens Deputy Mayor Murray Matson claimed after this week’s Council meeting that “Labor has avoided confronting the HCB issue for years and now they have to deal with it.”

 

He elaborated,

 

“If Labor wins the federal election as is expected then local Councillors want to know what preparations the Federal and State Labor MP’s are making for dealing with the Orica HCB waste. It is both a state and a federal issue and we want to know how Garret and Daley are contemplating tackling it on behalf of their common constituents. We are simply asking Garret what the plan is.”

 

During the Council meeting Labor Councillor Alan White claimed that Orica did have a plan for dealing with the waste but that he was not going to reveal it.

 

Cr Matson latter responded by saying,

 

“If one Labor Councillor knows what Orica is planning to do with the waste then it is safe to assume that his fellow Councillor and local MP Michael Daley also knows what the plan is. I would really be interested to know if it is a strategy that has been initiated purely by the company itself or have Garret and Daley been involved in the drafting of it. In short, have the local Labor MP’s come up with a solution or not.”

 

Cr Matson’s successfully motion to the Council read as follows.

 

Council will write to the MP for Marourba requesting answers to the following questions concerning the State Government’s plans for dealing with the HCB waste on the Orica site:

 

1)    Will you accept responsibility on behalf of the Labor State Government for the many years of inaction on the HCB waste issue at Orica.

 

2)    Did the State Government have a fall back option prepared in case the German plan for the removal of the HCB collapsed as it subsequently did.

 

3)       Will you now move to initiate the alignment of state and federal Government support for the assessing of alternative destruction sites within Australia and the allocation of money for any required facility upgrades.

 

4)     What discussions have you had with Peter Garret the Federal Member for Kingsford-Smith or on options for resolving the HCB waste issue at Orica.

 

CONTACT: Randwick City Greens Councillor Murray Matson 0409-984-587