Minister reads riot act to EPA
Environment Minister Ian Hunter has delivered a stinging rebuke to the independent Environment Protection Authority, accusing it of failing to adequately respond to reports of asbestos dumping near Osborne.
The EPA is investigating the illegal dumping of around a tonne of asbestos – among other waste materials – at Pelican Point, north-west of Adelaide.
But Hunter says the agency was first tipped off by members of the public in October and merely passed on the information to local government. Further action was not taken until a subsequent call this month.
“You’d expect people who deal with the public on a regular basis would have a better system in place,” he told InDaily.
“My particular concerns related to how the EPA customer response hasn’t been capable of adapting to modern times and expectations … I want to see some clear change.”
The minister has instructed Public Sector Commissioner Erma Ranieri and State Emergency Services chief Chris Beattie to “sit down with the EPA and guide them through modern public service expectations”. He has demanded the embattled agency report back on strategies for improvement within 90 days.
“The EPA is, of course, an independent statutory authority, so the winds of change that have blown through the public sector in the past few years … the EPA haven’t been exposed to those quite so much,” the minister said.
Hunter said while the EPA received around 15,000 calls each year, the suggestion of hazardous material being dumped on publicly used land should have flagged a “higher level of response”.
The agency has been under scrutiny since its handling of the notification process of a trichloroethylene contamination scare in Clovelly Park last year was roundly criticised. Responsibility for handling community liaison on the sensitive issue was subsequently handed to SA Water.
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Hunter said the events of last year were “a lesson” for the EPA, which he described as “essentially a bunch of incredibly smart scientists with a support agency who does their admin work”.
While question-marks remain over when the asbestos was actually dumped, Hunter insisted “that’s not really fundamental to the question”.
“A member of the public called in October and said there was asbestos sheeting there … That should have set off a higher level of intervention,” he said.
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