29-6-07
Greens
Councillors will move motions on Randwick City Council to pressure the State
Labor Government to move the Orica HCB waste from Botany to a destruction site
within Australia.
The
response follows revelations that German politicians have blocked the export of
the waste to Germany for destruction.
The
Greens claim that the German refusal was predictable and that local Labor MP
Michael Daley should have had an alternative plan prepared.
Greens
Councillor Murray Matson said this week,
“The
German debacle has exposed the State NSW Labor government to justifiable
criticism that it has mishandled the HCB issue for decades and is now left
without an alternative disposal plan.
Michael
Daley can try to divert blame as much as he likes, but in the end he is going
to have to admit that he as the local MP does not now have an answer for what
to do with the Orica waste.
His
attempt to blame The Greens for a decision made by the German Government, is a
tactic to divert attention away from the role Labor has played in this
catastrophe. Local, State and Federal Labor politicians have permitted Orica to
create a massive hazardous waste dump in the midst of Botany’s residents."
The
Greens will move Council motions seeking answers from Daley as to what plans
Labor has for dealing with the HCB now that the German option has collapsed on
them.”
Councillor
Matson stated that the Greens motions would require Daley to answer three
questions on behalf of the Labor state Government and himself. These were:
1) Will you accept responsibility for the
Labor State Government’s mishandling of the German HCB waste debacle?
2) Did the State Government have a fall
back option prepared if the German option collapsed such as assessing the
shipping of the HCB waste to destruction sites within Australia; and
3) Will you now move to align state and
federal Government support for the assessing of alternative destruction sites
within Australia.
Cr
Matson also stated that he had discussed last week’s coverage of the issue in
the Southern Courier with his colleague Greens MLC Ian Cohen and informed him
that the local Greens did not support retention of the waste at Orica.
“Ian
forwarded me a copy of the media statements he provided to the Southern Courier
journalist Tim Martin.
I
told him that the local Randwick-Botany Greens agreed with 90% of what he said
including his argument that it would be better to upgrade existing waste
processing plants either in Queensland or Victoria rather than to ship the HCB
waste to Germany.
But
I stated that the local Randwick-Botany Greens could not support his statement
that the ‘…best option would be to treat the waste on-site…’ at the Orica
factory.
I
told him that our local view was that the company’s poor record on waste issues
ruled out allowing them to deal with the waste on site. Orica should not be
allowed to start up an untested, new plant treating highly toxic waste in the
middle of a high population area.
The
view that I put to him was that, whilst it is Greens policy that Hazardous
materials be dealt with where they are created, that in this case the situation
had been allowed to become so unmanageable that it would not be appropriate to
treat the HCBs in a highly populated area such as Botany”
Cr
Matson stated that the local Greens also feared that a treatment facility at
Orica would become permanent.
“The
local Randwick-Botany Greens fear that once there is a waste treatment facility
at Botany, Orica will continue to run it after all the HCB is treated. Even if
the initial DA rules out it’s use as a waste treatment facility generally,
ORICA will claim it is wasteful to dismantle a multi million dollar plant when
waste treatment facilities are urgently needed in NSW.”