Chris Bowen (McMahon, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I've been in politics in this House for 14 years and in that time I've seen some very stupid ideas, but perhaps the most stupid idea I have ever seen is the proposal to build an energy-from-waste incinerator in Western Sydney. This would be the largest incinerator of its type in the world. It would operate continuously—24 hours a day, seven days a week. Local residents in this area already put up with a lot of waste disposal facilities nearby. Over the years, residents in St Clair and Erskine Park in my electorate have often complained to me of odours from those facilities. What's the proposal for the people of Western Sydney who are already suffering from many of these facilities? To build the world's biggest energy-from-waste incinerator and for it to operate 24 hours a day. The proposed site of this facility is 800 metres from the nearest homes and less than two kilometres from three different schools. It would create thousands of tonnes of toxic ash each year, and it would release dangerous pollutants into the air from the top of its two 100-metre-high stacks.

The people of Western Sydney are not second-class citizens. We should not have to put up with this proposal. We are not a dumping ground for New South Wales's problems. There are significant problems with the screening process of the waste materials, with all the waste that comes from third parties undergoing no inspection, which is roughly 500,000 tonnes per year. It is likely that recyclable materials and green waste will be included in the substances that are incinerated. This is to say nothing of the fact that hazardous materials, such as asbestos and highly flammable waste, will not be screened and prevented from reaching the incinerator—asbestos being incinerated 800 metre away from someone's home!

I've met with many residents of Minchinbury, Erskine Park, St Clair, Horsley Park, Kemps Creek and Cecil Park. They all think this idea is nuts; they are correct. There has been much commentary on the first environmental impact study, and there is much more work that needs to be done. In fact, this should not proceed any further. It should be rejected immediately. There are, it appears, two groups of people who think this is a good idea: the developer and the New South Wales state government. This could be stopped tomorrow if the New South Wales government showed some gumption. I want to pay tribute to my state Labor colleagues Edmond Atalla and Prue Car, who have been leading the fight against this proposal. My federal colleagues the member for Chifley, the member for Lindsay and the member for Greenway and I have been of one mind that this is a silly proposal. The mayor of Blacktown, now the state member for Blacktown, has also been very vocal on this.

The people who could actually stop this proposal are the Premier and the planning minister in New South Wales. I must say—I don't say this lightly and I very rarely make a speech critical of state colleagues—that the member for Mulgoa, Tanya Davies, has been missing in action when it comes to this issue. I attended a public meeting in St Clair or Erskine Park with about 300 people, and it was very clear that she was not willing to go in to bat to stop this proposal. She should go to Premier Berejiklian and say, 'This is not on.' She's a minister in the Berejiklian government. Yet what we're seeing is this waffle and process that the state government is entertaining, which has caused great concern for the people of Western Sydney. It's estimated that 168 trucks will deliver waste to the facility every day. That's 168 extra trucks on roads that are already struggling with the current workload.

What's the value in building this incinerator? We're told it will create jobs. But, just like the EI estimates, that falls well short of community standards. The Broader Western Sydney employment area draft structure plan states that development should have an employment target of 21 jobs per hectare. Did the original proposal for the incinerator create 21 jobs per hectare? No, six jobs per hectare! So, we have to cop this pollution and this, to be frank, insult from a developer who, I must say, does not have a great track record, and we are meant to put up with it.

Blacktown Council is having a community forum at 12 pm on 17 February at Minchinbury Neighbourhood Centre, and I urge all the residents of Minchinbury, St Clair, Erskine Park and nearby areas to attend and let the state government know this isn't on.