Risk or a simple choice EPA issues fine

Acoroner’s report into the death of a mother at Boroka Lookout, in the Grampians National Park, is a tragic reminder of the risk of a seemingly simple choice.

Rosy Loomba was just 38 years old, a wife and a mother of two when she visited the national park, also known as Gariwerd, with friends in December 2020.

Travelling to the region from their Melbourne home, they went for a picnic and visited various lookouts before arriving at Boroka Lookout in the mid-afternoon.

It’s a classic and common experience and itinerary for visitors and locals alike.

Mrs Loomba lost her footing after taking photographs on a rock ledge protruding from the cliff, nicknamed ‘Selfie Rock’, and fell.

Despite the best, desperate, heartbreaking attempts of her husband, Basant, to help, Mrs Loomba died – all while people lined up to take the same photograph, and in the wake of many others who had made the same choice earlier in the day. Unimaginably, their children and friends were among the waiting crowd.

Emergency services worked for hours to locate Mrs Loomba.

Victoria Police and other organisations have long expressed concerns and issued warnings about the risks of ‘selfish selfies’ in such locations.

Scaling safety fencing and embarking on risky campaigns; precarious poses and positioning and actions for the ‘perfect’ snap – in at least one ‘viral’ incident in 2018 a backflip at the same location as Mrs Loomba’s death – makes for powerful but hair-raising social media content.

It’s a choice countless people make at many and various risky locations at the region’s tourism hotspots – likely daily.

Warning signs and safety fencing exist to protect the public from tragedy and are regularly inspected and maintained to ensure their working order.

The coroner’s report calls for more and explicit signs at the lookout to spell out the risks of injury and death.

But where does the line lie between taking precautions and making safety provisions; and people taking responsibility for their choices?

Few people would scale a safety fence at a mountain ledge, truly believing and considering they would not return.

But that is the exact outcome if things go sour.

Alternative options – to the extent of closing lookouts and other tourist spots – would be detrimental to the visitor experience in missing an opportunity to enjoy all the region has to offer. This would deprive the majority of an experience impacted by the few.

People’s lives should always take priority, of any action or reaction.

But when it also comes to taking responsibility for self and others, it’s an impossible situation.

A burning pile of industrial waste at Lillimur with flames 30-metres high has cost a man nearly $10,000.

Environmental Protection Authority Victoria, EPA, charged Joshua Luke Kostecki over the burning stockpile on rented land behind his Western Highway home, near Kaniva; and another fire at a property at Nintingbool, near Ballarat.

Kostecki pleaded guilty in Horsham Magistrates’ Court to four charges.

He was convicted, fined $7000 and ordered to pay $2664 in costs to EPA.

The Lillimur fire involved industrial waste dumped overnight on May 2 and 3, 2021 – including carpet, timber, plaster, food packaging, documents, books and fibreglass. More waste was dumped on May 5, covering an area measuring about 20 metres by 30 metres and three-metres high.

A witness saw a fire at 1.30am on May 6 and when EPA officers arrived at sunrise, they found the stockpile.

EPA told the court the fire and smoke caused an environmental hazard and endangered surrounding homes, residents and traffic on the Western Highway.

EPA issued Kostecki with a remedial notice after the fire, requiring him to remove the waste for lawful disposal by July 12, 2021. EPA officers returned on July 21 and found there had been no attempt to clean up. As the landowner, DELWP cleared the site and took the industrial waste for proper disposal, at a cost of more than $77,000.

EPA executive director of operations, Mark Rossiter, said anyone considering illegally dumping waste should take note of the criminal conviction and fine.

“This case involves illegal disposal of waste on rented land, illegal burning of waste and refusal to comply with a remedial notice from EPA,” he said.