Sarah Henderson (Corangamite, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to raise serious concerns about the botched demolition by Alcoa of its power station in Anglesea. This is the demolition that I asked Alcoa to delay because of the very poor way it had informed the community. The nearby school received just four days notice and the kindergarten just one day's notice. The community must immediately be told what went wrong, the risks, why the demolition proceeded outside the designated time—and when the wind was blowing towards the town—and whether any airborne asbestos or other toxic gases of material were released. This is a power station that was full of asbestos. While Alcoa says it has undertaken a 12-month asbestos removal program, it has refused to say whether there was any remaining in the building. The state Victorian Labor government, Alcoa, WorkSafe and EPA this week must urgently make public all information about the demolition. It's not good enough for WorkSafe to make vague statements about not detecting any airborne asbestos now. No further demolition should happen until there is full disclosure and transparency. I'm also calling on the state government to overturn Alcoa's FOI exemption. There's no reason why Alcoa should be a protected species when every other company which deals with government must comply with the FOI legislation. If this transparency is not forthcoming, a judicial inquiry on these matters may be required.