Page 2792 - Week 10 - Wednesday, 14 August 1991
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Toxic Waste
MRS GRASSBY: My question is to Mr Connolly. What is the truth about the reports in the Canberra Times regarding the danger of toxic waste that has been buried around Canberra, and how many of these toxic waste dumps are there in Canberra?
Mr Kaine: Why don't you just table your prepared answer?
MR CONNOLLY: I may even do that. There has been a lot of concern in the media about toxic waste in Canberra, following media reports of an incident some eight years ago when material was buried in the tip at West Belconnen. I have previously answered and told this Assembly that that material was buried according to the best safety standards then prevailing and that the advice that we now have is that it is still safe; that core samples which are taken on a bimonthly basis from around that area indicate that there has been no leaching and no danger to surrounding ground water. So, that material in relation to the incident of eight years ago is safe and is being monitored.
I notice media reports that a prospective candidate for the forthcoming Assembly elections has been suggesting that there ought be a major inquiry into past tip practices in the ACT. I can advise the house that the Department of Urban Services has indeed pre-empted such a need, because it has delved through its records and provided a list of some 25 sites around Canberra that have in the past been identified for public tip purposes.
Mr Kaine: Will you table that document?
MR CONNOLLY: I am quite happy to table both the list and a map which shows where those sites are throughout Canberra. In many cases, of course, these tips were just for builders' rubble in newly emerging areas of Canberra; they tend to radiate out as the city has grown over the years. The department is quite convinced that those areas are safe. But, of course, knowledge of toxic waste disposal has advanced dramatically in recent years. In the past, often perhaps dangerous material was simply put into landfill sites. An agent that comes to mind would be dieldrin, used in the past for white ant control and now known to have quite severe toxic effects. It is quite within the realms of possibility that cans of that type of material were just put into landfill sites.
So, as I say, the Department of Urban Services is accurately identifying the site, of all these tips. These sites will be logged into the Australian survey office's standard databases so that everyone will know where they are and they will be inspected over time to ensure that there is no leaching of material into the adjoining ground
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