Brimbank Council Mayor, Cr Georgina Papafotiou has welcomed news that the Environment Protection Authority is opening a new office in Sunshine.
The EPA has announced that it will boost its presence in the West with a Sunshine office that will be home to a dedicated team for the western region.
Mayor Papafotiou said the EPA’s announcement was an important step in the right direction to addressing the community’s concerns about its local environment and legacy land contamination issues.
‘The EPA’s increased presence in the West will go some way to help protect our precious environment which has borne more than its fair share of pollution and land contamination from the state’s industry and landfill over the years,’ Cr Papafotiou said.
The Transforming Brimbank Environmental Equity 2020 Agenda calls on increased collaboration and engagement between the Federal, State and Local Government spheres across the west to help consider and respond to the environmental injustices of the past.
Council is also calling on the State Government to establish a Melbourne West Land Contamination Taskforce, and a comprehensive Environmental Equity Package, to identify and respond to historic land contamination issues across the west, including the former Sunshine Landfills.
‘These other measures are also important to address legacy contamination issues impacting people of the west. Having all the relevant information around potentially contaminated land is a vital and an important step in responding to the concerns of residents in Brimbank and Melbourne’s west,’ Cr Papafotiou said.
The Sunshine EPA office will oversee the metropolitan West. Melbourne’s west was previously part of the EPA’s metropolitan region jurisdiction.
