A City of Casey councillor has urged tighter oversight of the municipality’s role in the South East Metropolitan Advanced Waste Processing (SEMAWP) partnership.
The SEMAWP comprising of nine South East councils including Casey, Greater Dandenong and Cardinia Shire has been contracted to deliver residual waste to a future Energy from Waste facility at Maryvale in Gippsland.
The 25-year waste-supply agreement with the consortium of Veolia, Masdar Tribe and Opal was signed last year.
At the October Casey Council meeting, councillor Lynette Pereira successfully moved a motion calling for greater transparency and accountability in the city’s involvement with the SEMAWP.
The motion directs council officers to write to the SEMAWP Board seeking assurances about governance, probity, and legal compliance associated with the SEMAWP Agreement and all other relevant Agreements and Contracts, in consideration of changing policy and regulatory conditions, Federal Waste and Circular Economy Strategies, the Victorian inquiry into waste-to-energy, and ongoing legal action by Paper Australia (Opal) against the State Government, and recent experience with international waste to energy projects.
The motion passed unanimously.
A report outlining the board’s response will be presented to the council by February 2026.
Cr Pereira said her motion was a “common-sense step to protect ratepayers and ensure transparency” around the city’s long-term waste arrangements.
“It is not about criticising the partnership,” she said.
“It’s about due diligence, good governance, and ensuring our community isn’t exposed to unnecessary financial or environmental risk.”
She highlighted global challenges with waste-to-energy projects, including technical failures and rigid long-term contracts that have left councils “bearing the financial risk.”
Councillor Carolyn Eaves noted that the reports requested are reports that would be generated by any organisation as part of their strategic scanning of their operating environments.
“I don’t think they’re very difficult reports to provide us,” she said.
