Don't Dump On Bacchus Marsh
Western Victoria MP Bev McArthur yesterday took senior Liberal colleagues to visit the Bacchus Marsh site earmarked by Transurban and the State Government for the storage of PFAS-affected soil from the West Gate Tunnel Project.
Mrs McArthur was accompanied by Tim Smith MP, Shadow Minister for Planning and Heritage, Local Government, Housing and Population, and Richard Riordan MP, Shadow Assistant Minister for Agriculture and Regional Victoria.
Mrs McArthur said: “I wanted my colleagues to experience first-hand just how dangerously absurd this proposal is.”
“It is not until you stand by the site, at the top of the hill, and look down to the Parwan Creek below that you realise how patently unsuitable the area is for any kind of waste, let alone soluble chemicals which can leach into waterways.”
“It is already hard to believe that this tip can operate in such proximity to schools and residential properties. The idea its operations should be allowed to extend so much further, and to include the on-site classification of seriously polluted material and the subsequent storage of toxic PFAS-affected soil is a nightmare.”
The three Liberal politicians toured the existing site and areas slated for expansion, speaking to representatives of the Moorabool Environment Group, the Bacchus Marsh Community Coalition, Bacchus Marsh Grammar School, and local residents and farmers, as well as meeting the Mayor, CEO and senior officers of Moorabool Shire Council.
Mrs McArthur said: “It is inconceivable that in the 79,000km2 of Western Victoria, or the 227,000km2 of our whole state, there is no better place for this huge, disruptive, dirty operation, which will potentially damage the local environment and human health.”
“No one in their right mind should advocate storing PFAS material in heaps, on this high ground alongside the Parwan Creek, which drains into the Werribee River used for horticulture, and on a site which sits atop numerous aquifers also used for prime food production.”
“We saw at first hand the fabulously fertile alluvial soil beds, and spoke to one of Bacchus Marsh’s rightly-famed producers. To put this food-bowl of Victoria in jeopardy would be indefensible.”
“Frankly it seems the only possible explanation for this ludicrous idea is disastrous project management by the Andrews Government and Transurban. Having failed to properly plan for disposal of the soil, they are now seeking the quickest and easiest solution to dig themselves out of a hole.”
“The people of Bacchus Marsh and Maddingley should not be made to pay for the Government’s incompetence.”
Mrs McArthur, Mr Smith and Mr Riordan also met Moorabool Shire Mayor, David Edwards, Council CEO Derek Madden, and other senior officers.
“The deep frustration of the Mayor and Council Officers was absolutely evident to us. They are fighting hard to get the best for their people, but are faced at every turn with a State Government which seems likely to usurp local planning powers but offload enforcement responsibility, refuses to supply relevant information to Council, demands impossible timescales, and is failing to ensure community consultation.”
Mrs McArthur said: “In my many years’ experience, this is one of the worst abuses of process by Government I can remember. It is not just offensive, but improper, unjust and border-line despotic. Residents, business-owners and Councillors are right to be disgusted at the way they have been treated to date.”
Mrs McArthur and colleagues also met Kat Barlow, of the Bacchus Marsh Community Coalition, and Andrew Neal, Principal of Bacchus Marsh Grammar School to hear of further concerns from the local community.
“The problem with this project is not simply to do with potential pollution from PFAS-soil. It is also about the scale of this project, and its proximity to the town. MBC site operations are already significant, and to add another 460 truck movements per day through a small town is unconscionable. There is an immediate threat to the town’s Avenue of Honour, to the horticultural businesses which operate there, and to the quality of life of all residents.”
Mrs McArthur concluded: “I am extremely grateful to all of those who took the time to meet us. We took away the strongest message that the community is united against this proposal, and will fight it to the very last."
"If Transurban and the Andrews Government think dumping toxic soil in Bacchus Marsh is the quickest and easiest solution to their infrastructure shambles, they are going to have to think again.”
25 June 2020