TROUBLE PILES UP AT LARA DUMP
WEST FOOTSCRAY BLAZE RAISES FEARS FOR LARA
NEW charges have been laid against the company behind a dangerous pile of mixed waste in Geelong’s north.
The impending action follows a court proceeding yesterday that resulted in C&D Recycling being wound up.
The Australian Taxation Office launched the action against the firm, which has overseen the abandoned piles containing more than 350,000 cubic metres of waste in Lara.
The legal battle shifts to the Magistrates’ Court in November, with the City of Greater Geelong pressing charges over C&D Recycling’s failure to implement compliance measures.
The charges relate to an alleged breach of a fire prevention notice and an interim enforcement order issued by the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal.
The Br Broderick Rd property has bee been deemed an extreme fire risk, with stockpiles of largely unkn unknown db debris, some rising almost 13m, spread across the site.
The proceedings cast doubt over when the dump will be cleaned up — and who will fund it.
Windermere councillor Anthony Aitken said the council’s legal action was aimed at enforcing the law and finding a safe resolution.
“We want to pursue all avenues in relation to the issue,” Cr Aitken said.
“People have to be made accountable for the mess that is out there.”
Fellow Windermere councillor Kylie Grzybek said she had been inundated with calls from locals concerned the industrial fire in West Footscray could be repeated in Lara.
The toxic fire, which has let off strong chemical fumes since igniting Thursday, was expected to burn throughout the weekend.
“Lara residents are hypersensitive to something like that happening in our community,” Cr Grzybek said.
The northern suburbs councillors believe a whole of government response is needed.
They have been buoyed by the EPA’s recent decisive action against a Stawell tyre recycling facility.
The EPA has charged the company and a director with offences that come with court penalties of up to $373,104 for each charge.
The authority had previously stepped in to remove a stockpile of about one million tyres, following the site owner’s repeated failure to reduce the fire threat they posed.
“The EPA has shown that it will take a proactive approach, and that is what we want to see with this site,” Cr Grzybek said.
“Because the longer it goes, as we are coming into fire season, the more the risk heightens.”
The enforcement order was issued by VCAT in May.
It had found the operator had intentionally or continuously breached 18 of the 37 conditions on the planning permit, including the required emergency and fire plans.
It hoped the order would allow the land owner, the Australian Sawmilling Company, to find a solution and not force the public to foot the cleanup bill, estimated at $99 million.
VCAT knocked back a council request to cancel the permit, warning such a move would likely see C&D Recycling “simply become insolvent and walk away from the problem”.
“The ultimate cost of clean-up and disposal would be left to the public purse,” the tribunal found.
The Federal Court action to liquidate C&D Recycling, initiated by the ATO, came on the back of the company’s liabilities topping $1 million.
“It is being wound up because there is no future in it,” company director David McAuliffe said last month. “The company hasn’t traded since July 1 (last year), and has incurred substantial losses since.”
The Geelong Advertiser photographed Mr McAuliffe on a 28m luxury yacht in June.
He had been seen spending a lot of time on the yacht, which was docked in Queenscliff Harbour.