Ian Campbell (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for the Environment and Heritage) Share this | Hansard source

The question relates to the Perth brickworks. The assessment conducted by my department showed something that was incredibly, deeply embarrassing to the WA Labor Party and Senator Sterle’s comrades in Western Australia. It showed that the Western Australian Labor government had approved two kilns for existing brickworks in the Swan Valley area that were pouring noxious gases into the airshed above the people who live in Guildford, Hazelmere and the Swan Valley. Of course, I have released that environmental assessment—unlike the WA Labor government, who have hidden all of their assessments and in fact did not even do an assessment of the two kilns.

So yes, in fact, there are very serious issues about brickworks’ emissions into the Swan Valley airshed. Our department found that the proposed brickworks on the Perth airport site would be a world-leading example of a brickworks and would have massively lower emissions than the brickworks within the Midland area. We also found that the WA government did not even submit the expansion proposals for the brickworks, which are less than a kilometre away from the Perth airport site, to any environmental assessment at all, nor did they allow any public consultation. Our process was one that included the longest public consultation period of any environmental assessment process in Australia. It is an incredible embarrassment to the WA government and it should be an embarrassment to Senator Sterle. The environmental approvals processes and monitoring of toxins in the airshed over the brickworks in the Midland area are a national and international disgrace over which the Labor Party should be absolutely hanging their heads in shame.