Protest over toxic stance

By Shaun Inguanzo
ANTI-TOXIC waste lobbyists dumped a flurry of questions on Greater Dandenong council officers this week in protest against the outgoing mayor’s stance on the Lyndhurst tip battle.
Several members of the Residents Against Toxic Waste In The South East (RATWISE) group that has been fighting for 14 years to stop Lyndhurst from receiving hazardous wastes such as cadmium and mercury, were present at Monday night’s council meeting.
Some donned anti-toxic waste T-shirts and others fired questions at councillors and council officers over the Lyndhurst tip’s future.
RATWISE member Thelma Wakelam called for a health study of residents living within three kilometres of the tip site.
Greater Dandenong chief executive officer John Bennie said the request was beyond his officers, but the council would forward it to relevant health bodies.
Monday night’s controversy was the result of outgoing mayor Peter Brown revealing that an unnamed Cabinet minister had phoned him to urge the council not to press ahead with presenting at a Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) hearing on 7 December.
The hearing is part of tip operator SITA’s bid to have its permits amended to continue receiving hazardous wastes after VCAT declared early this year that it was doing so in breach of old Shire of Cranbourne permits from the early 1990s.
Cr Brown last week told Star that if the State Government was going to intervene and side with tip SITA, then the council should consider spending rate dollars on battling the tip operator.
This week he said the phone conversation reiterated the point.
Planning Minister Rob Hulls declared his support for tip operator SITA before the state election campaign, declaring the matter of dumping hazardous waste one of state significance.