Luke Hartsuyker (Cowper, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I would like to use this opportunity to bring to the attention of the House an environmental crisis that threatens to slowly engulf the town of Coramba, which is in my electorate. This crisis has been developing since January 2002, when one resident of the town, Peter Attwill, noticed traces of petrol on his property in pools of water near the Orara River. The petrol did not originate from Mr Attwill’s land. But, more than four years later, Mr Attwill, his wife, Belinda, and his three young children are still facing the effects of the contamination. They have to cope on a daily basis with their fears of a threat to their health. Their house, which they built some 20 years ago, and their land cannot be sold. All that, you might think, is bad enough. But, as I will explain in due course, the Attwills are having to carry an extra burden in this matter, the consequences of which may well affect a large part of Coramba as well as those living downstream from the town.

As a result of Mr Attwill’s discovery, shortly afterwards investigations at the local petrol station revealed that an estimated 3,000 litres of unleaded petrol had escaped from an underground storage tank, though no explanation has been provided of how a leak of this size went undetected—and neither have investigations taken place to establish beyond any reasonable doubt that the petrol station was, in fact, the source of contamination. Though it clearly seems likely, I am told that there are other potential sources of contamination. Because of the lie of the land, it is possible that the petrol that leaked from the service station, if that is the source, has seeped not only onto Mr Attwill’s land but also in other directions and into other properties without yet surfacing. This has not yet been established or ruled out. That also applies to the other potential sources of pollution.

To sum up, the residents of Coramba do not know how much of their town is, or will be, polluted. If they do not know the source of the pollution with certainty, they do not know whether petrol continues to leak into the ground. They do not know for how much longer or how much further the existing pollution is likely to spread. I have been informed that people in the town of Coramba can no longer sell their properties. Their houses have been blighted. No-one knows the consequences for the communities downstream that draw drinking water from the Orara River. No-one knows the consequences for the livestock owners whose cattle drink from the river.

Despite being informed of the situation back in January 2002 when Mr Attwill first found petrol on his land, the NSW Environment Protection Authority, now absorbed into the NSW Department of Environment and Conservation, has done little to resolve any of the outstanding issues I have mentioned. The burden of managing this situation currently lies with Mr Attwill himself, following the decision by the department of environment to set up a trust fund managed by Mr Attwill to pay for investigations by consultants. The consultants will present their report soon. So here we have a man whose property has been polluted through no fault of his own, who is under considerable stress and whose family is under considerable stress, being asked to set up and supervise a technical study by consultants in an area in which he has no expertise whatsoever. Ironically, Mr Attwill is a petrochemical tanker driver. But he is not a chemist. He is not a geologist. He is not an engineer. He is not an ecologist.

However, I am pleased to say that there are now some hopeful signs. According to the local newspaper, the department will address the problem once the findings of the report currently under way are known. If this is indeed the case, I welcome the department’s good intentions. Mr Attwill tells me that there is little hope of redress from the owners of the service station or their insurers if the station is indeed proved to be the sole source of the pollution. What Mr Attwill and the other residents of Coramba desperately need to know, after four years of uncertainty, is the full extent of the pollution and that the relevant agencies will remove the risk to their health and properties. As I say, I am encouraged by media reports that the department is inclined to act. I have written to the federal Minister for the Environment and Heritage bringing this matter to his attention and asking him to offer what assistance he can to the residents of Coramba—despite the fact that this is clearly a state issue. In the meantime, Mr Attwill, his family and his neighbours will be awaiting the consultants’ report with some trepidation.