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Agriculture Environment and Water | July 30, 2019

Labor keeps deadly toxic waste secret

The Nationals Member for Lowan, Emma Kealy is appalled the Andrews Labor Government has kept a massive illicit toxic waste dump at Kaniva a secret for over a year.

Fifty million litres of deadly toxic waste is believed to have been dumped, posing a potential threat to human health, crop contamination and the underground water supply for local residents.

Kaniva locals and the West Wimmera Shire Council have still not been briefed by the Environment Protection Authority or WorkSafe about the toxic waste site which is said to be the biggest illicit dumping operation in Victoria’s history.

“It is an absolute disgrace that Labor has kept this stockpile of chemical waste a secret from locals, particularly given the health risk through local groundwater supplies and farming produce,” Ms Kealy said.

“The failure to properly manage waste has been proven to cause major environmental degradation and a lasting adverse impact on the local ecology environmental, posing a direct threat to farm land, local native flora and the water supply.

“The Andrews Labor Government has known about this hazard and has shown blatant contempt for the local Kaniva community by not informing them.

“If this toxic waste leaks into our waterways it will be devastating for our region.

"Labor must immediately release its plans and timeline for the urgent removal of this ticking time bomb.

“This wouldn’t be tolerated in the city and it certainly shouldn’t be tolerated in western Victoria. 

“Daniel Andrews must urgently fix this mess to protect our local residents, our water supply, our farms and our local environment.”