Vic: Building workers threaten halt over toxic dump row

AAP General News (Australia)
12-18-2000
Vic: Building workers threaten halt over toxic dump row

By Heather Gallagher and Trevor Chappell

MELBOURNE, Dec 18 AAP - Building unions today threatened to halt work on Melbourne's
major construction sites if the Bracks government failed to develop a new toxic waste
dump.

The Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) and Victorian Trades Hall
Council (VTHC) have called on the government to act urgently, as landfills at Tullamarine
in Melbourne's north and Lyndhurst in the south-east are almost full.

The CFMEU, along with electrical and plumbers unions, has threatened to ban the removal
of contaminated soil from key locations including the Docklands and Queen Victoria sites,
if a new dump for hazardous waste is not found.

CFMEU spokesman Pat Preston said heavy metals and other contaminants from previous
developments had contaminated many city building sites and could cause a variety of medical
ailments ranging from skin problems to cancer.

Mr Preston said work bans on handling contaminated soil would begin next year if the
government failed to deal with the issue.

"A large amount of soil (will be) held on site - while we're waiting on the construction
of a repository," he told AAP.

"That would end up with some sites coming to a standstill."

Meanwhile, the VTHC's construction convenor Brian Boyd said the government had indicated
it would adopt recommendations from a consultative committee that it move away from landfill
to recycling waste.

However, he said a new site was required very quickly to ensure workers were not exposed
to contaminated soil.

"If we don't get an indication from the government by the end of next January that
the siting issue is going to be dealt with within the next six months, that will trigger
it (work bans)," said Mr Boyd.

The Victorian Opposition today called upon the Bracks government to move quickly to
create new facilities for toxic waste.

"We have now got a real problem in Victoria with regard to the continual build-up of
toxic waste," Opposition Leader Denis (Denis) Napthine told reporters.

"And we have a government which, through its own inaction, its own indecision, has
created a bigger problem."

Dr Napthine said that when the Tullamarine dump closed, thousands of trucks carrying
toxic waste would be forced to travel from one side of the city to the other at Lyndhurst,
creating a risk to residential areas.

"We need a government that makes a real decision and really does something to create
a proper facility to get rid of this toxic waste," Dr Napthine said.

The Bracks government announced earlier this month that toxic waste would no longer
be dumped in traditional landfills but would instead go to high-technology waste-containment
and recycling facilities.

A spokeswoman for Environment Minister Sherryl (Sherryl) Garbutt said the government
had plans to establish new toxic dump facilities before the current dumps filled up.

AAP tsc/jlw/hmg/clr/cd/de

KEYWORD: TOXIC NIGHTLEAD

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