Carlton
River Catchment & Southern Beaches Conservation Society
Dump
the Toxic
Dump
P.O.
Box 92, Dodges Ferry, TASMANIA, 7177
MEDIA
RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Thursday 20th October
TASMANIANS SHOULD BE ASHAMED OF THEIR POLITICAL REPRESENTATIVES
Local communities surrounding the Carlton River and the Southern Beaches are bitterly disappointed this morning after Liberal and Labor members yesterday defeated Greens MP Tim Morris’ motion to refer the proposed hazardous materials waste dump to an Environment, Resources & Development Committee for further assessment.
Mr Morris’ motion to the House of Assembly requested that issues arising over public consultation mand the overall necessity for such a proposal be examined under the 2004 Sustainable Landfill Guide and other relevant Commonwealth and State waste management strategies.
The decision by Labor and Liberal members to ignore this request, in support of the landfill development has consigned Tasmania to decades of worst practice in relation to hazardous material waste management. The Commonwealth National Waste Policy and the Tasmanian Waste & Resource Management Strategy both recognise landfill as the least desirable option.
Shane Humpherys from the Carlton River Catchment & Southern Beaches Conservation Society said “Tasmanians should be ashamed of their political representatives ignoring best practice in relation to waste management.”
“Only 20-30% of all Tasmania’s waste is diverted from landfill, whereas the national average is 60% and increasing. The action of Liberal and Labor members yesterday condemns 100% of Tasmania’s and Antarctica’s hazardous waste to landfill. This is appalling and in complete contrast to best practice and trends throughout the rest of Australia and the developed World.”
Alternate reprocessing and reuse technologies as encouraged by the National Waste Policy for hazardous materials will generate far greater levels of investment and employment in Tasmania than a ‘hole in the ground’ landfill development. The National Waste Policy fully supports transboundary movements of waste where economics and best practice dictate better outcomes. This is consistent with viewing waste as an economic resource not something to be simply discarded. State Labor and Liberal members seem incapable of accepting this new paradigm in waste management.
“It is clear that the State Labor and Liberal parties are satisfied to accept a second rate outcome for waste management in Tasmania. They have continued to ignore the guiding principles of the National Waste Policy and the Tasmanian Waste & Resource Management Strategy and in doing so condemn Tasmania’s waste management to the worst in the nation for decades to come,” said Mr Humpherys.
- MEDIA RELEASE ENDS -
For further information please contact:
Claire Burnet on 0448 585 947
dumpthetoxicdump@gmail.com
