Burning issue of deserted Lara tip
LUCKILY none of the smoke blew this way. But we saw this week in the Footscray factory fire how an unexpected inferno can disrupt a community, spread toxic smoke and endanger health.
Today marks the end of winter, the start of spring, and summer’s baking hot weather is now just around the corner.
This should make us all quite concerned about the ongoing issue of the Lara dump.
The company running the dump has been made insolvent.
It is being chased by council and the tax man.
In the meantime, piles of more than 350,000 cubic metres of waste lie exposed to the elements and pose a potential toxic fire risk.
In a just world, the responsibility for the clean-up would fall to the company, and if the company was no longer, the directors of that company.
The next most responsible party would have to be the landowner.
But at this point there does not appear to be a legal fix to make these parties bear the responsibility.
And yet this needs to be cleared up for public safety.
The hopes of Windermere Ward councillor Kylie Grzybek seem to hang on the Environment Protection Authority (EPA) intervening and removing the waste piles — or the most dangerous of them.
This would unfortunately mean the public pays for the clean-up instead of those responsible.
This is not ideal but it might be necessary.
It would certainly be the lesser of two evils when pitted against the prospect of a fire.
Council must also do what it must to look after the health of the people of this region.
But it would be terrible if ratepayers were slugged for corporate neglect.
Cr Anthony Aitken told the Addy: “People have to be made accountable for the mess that is out there.”
He’s not wrong.