Pile of woes grows

WHEN the City of Greater Geelong first flagged fire safety concerns with the C & D Recycling dump site in August last year, the public assumed the problem would be fixed.

When the EPA issued orders to operators at the Lara site last November, followed by CoGG launching legal action in December, we thought something would be done.

When the plant caught fire in January, C & D was fined by the EPA, and the operators’ push to change from a recycling dump to a transfer station was rejected in April, locals were sure there would finally be action.

However, despite a litany of problems and multiple warnings from organisations including the CFA and EPA, 350,000 cubic metres of rubbish remains piled up on the Broderick Rd site — a mountainous fire hazard on the outskirts of town with a just as mountainous $100 million clean-up bill.

Earlier this month the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal decided not to strip C & D Recycling of its operational permit, saying the best hope for the site was to find another buyer to take it on.

The tribunal found that the $100 million cost and the two years it would take to clean up the site was not viable for the current operator.

The public, as usual, were asked to accept that this was the most sensible outcome.

But the photos published today of C & D Recycling owner David McAuliffe on a 28-metre luxury yacht, make this apparent lack of accountability in regards to the mess at Lara particularly difficult to swallow.

While Mr McAuliffe enjoys the luxuries of Eagle One, which boasts three decks and a large jacuzzi, the public has to endure the unsightly and unsafe mountain of rubbish that he has let pile up in Lara.

While he enjoys a millionaire’s lifestyle, the public faces a potential multimilliondollar clean-up bill. It feels as if Mr McAuliffe has enjoyed enough chances. It’s time there were some real consequences for creating the monumental mess that is a potential public safety nightmare.

Otherwise we will all be paying the price.