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7 JUNE, 2022
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SIG N U P N O W!
Getting cosy, for the earth
Jacob, Sienna, William and Gracie from Gisborne Primary School are rugging to take part in World Environmental Day.
(Damjan Janevski) 283453_01
The kids at Gisborne Primary School got rugged up in their jumpers and scarves and beanies, going without power for one hour to celebrate this year’s World Environment Day. For the hour, pupils went without heating, electricity and gadgets on Monday, June 6, helping them to understand why it is important to be mindful of the planet we live on. William, a pupil at the school, said some classes even challenged themselves to do even more than one hour without power. “It was really fun because we had no heater, so we could bring our Oodies,” William said. World Environment Day is a United Nations initiative, and this year’s theme is #OnlyOneEath, calling for “collective, transformative action on a global scale to celebrate, protect and restore our planet”. Held annually since 1973, it is the largest day for the environment – from Gisborne to Stockholm, now the event has millions of people from all over the world taking part. “The reason we did this is to save electricity and help the environment,” William said. Elsie Lange
Scathing spoil findings By Elsie Lange The Victorian Ombudsman has condemned the state’s environmental regulator over the handling of the dumping of West Gate Tunnel Project (WGTP) spoil into the western suburbs, including the Hi-Quality site at Bulla. The report, tabled by Ombudsman Deborah Glass in parliament on Tuesday, May 31, says the Environment Protection Authority (EPA) failed to properly engage with community groups over the soil disposal, and lacked accountability, which in turn increased local concern.
It also found the EPA had approved earlier versions of Environment Management Plans (EMPs) with “deficient information” due to government pressure “to ‘fix’ problems”, as well as overlooking the human rights of locals. However, the report said the EPA’s decision to approve EMPs for spoil disposal was “environmentally sound” and didn’t place local communities at significant risk. Sunbury resident and founder of the Sunbury Against Toxic Soil Facebook page Chris O’Neill said the EPA had put “unreasonable psychological stress” on the community.
“The EPA, as with all departments in this process, cut out the community aspects, and the community aspect, in a large project, is the most important aspect,” Mr O’Neill said. “Everything that the EPA has done is now overshadowed by their failure and incompetence to do the basics of their role.” Ms Glass launched the investigation in August 2021 following concerns from communities near three sites in Bulla, Bacchus Marsh and Ravenhall, which were approved by the EPA for the dumping of spoil from the WGTP, after the discovery of PFAS chemicals in the project’s groundwater.
“This failure to provide appropriate information and opportunities for communities to participate when making its approval decisions for sites to receive the spoil for the Project was unreasonable,” Ms Glass said. “It also gave no specific consideration to human rights, even though human rights were very much a focus for affected communities, who were worried about the impact of PFAS on themselves and their children, as well as waterways and wildlife.” ■ Continued:
Mary-Anne Thomas MP
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LABOR MEMBER FOR MACEDON DELIVERING FOR OUR COMMUNITY
Authorised by MA Thomas, Shop 14, Nexus Centre, 9 Goode Street, Gisborne
A: Shop 14, Nexus Centre, 9 Goode Street, Gisborne, VIC 3437 P: 5428 2138 E: mary-anne.thomas@parliament.vic.gov.au MaryAnneMacedon @MaryAnneThomas maryannethomasmp
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