Call for further detail on West Gate Tunnel contaminated waste

Brimbank Mayor, Cr Georgina Papafotiou has made a renewed call for more detail about the transportation routes and the final destination of contaminated materials from the West Gate Tunnel Project.

Brimbank and Melton Council have already written a joint letter to the Victorian Government calling on it to look away from the west for potential sites for the spoil and contaminated materials after it was revealed that a Ravenhall landfill was being considered.

Council has resolved at the Special Council Meeting on 29 April 2020 that it again write to the Victorian Government to represent the ongoing concerns of our community in relation to the transport and disposal of contaminated waste and fill generated from the West Gate Tunnel Project.

Cr Papafotiou, who moved the motion on Wednesday night, said this was another important step in addressing the community’s concerns about where contaminated materials from the West Gate Tunnel Project would end up.

‘Our community is really concerned about reports that this contaminated fill could be transported through Brimbank and dumped in the west. Our message to the State Government is that the west is not a dumping ground for Victoria’s contaminated waste,’ Cr Papafotiou said.

The Melbourne Regional Landfill, in Ravenhall, is located within the boundaries of the City of Melton, with major road and transport access from metropolitan Melbourne via Brimbank. The site closely borders with some of the state’s fastest-growing communities at Rockbank, Plumpton, Caroline Springs, Burnside, Albanvale, Deer Park, Brimbank Gardens and Truganina.

‘Melton Mayor, Cr Lara Carli and I have written to the Minister for Transport and Infrastructure in regard to this issue, we subsequently had a meeting with representatives from the State Government, who advised us that no soil with PFAS as of that time had been transported and the government was still in the process of looking at sites that could accept the soil,’ Cr Papafotiou said.

‘While we appreciated the update, we reiterate our need for clarity and detail to transport routes, destinations and scheduling in relation to the transportation and disposal of contaminated waste and fill from the West Gate Tunnel Project.’

Brimbank Council is also calling for:

  • Further opportunities for genuine community engagement with the government and private contractors where local concerns and needs are heard
  • More details regarding the nature and levels of contamination being excavated and disposed of, including assessment of the environmental and health risk
  • Call again for the establishment of Melbourne’s West Land Contamination Taskforce to protect our current and future communities and address current and future risks.

Council first called for the establishment of a Melbourne’s West Land Contamination Taskforce in mid-March, to take a western-region-wide approach to addressing legacy contamination issues impacting the people of the west.

/Public Release. View in full here.