Greg Hunt (Flinders, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Climate Change, Environment and Urban Water) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today to speak in relation to the methane gas leak from the landfill at Cranbourne. I want to set out, firstly, my concern for and on behalf of the residents; secondly, my approach to the need for support for the residents; and, thirdly, the need for a national landfill inquiry.

In relation to the residents themselves, the Brooklands Green Estate borders my electorate of Flinders. It is not actually within the electorate, but I know that many people who live near the border of my electorate have been affected. I have visited the site. I have seen the distress caused to families. These families first and foremost have a concern for their safety and, in particular, the safety of their children. The methane levels are dangerously high on two fronts: (1) the potential for explosion; and (2) the possible health consequences.

The first thing we need for these residents is a package which is real and solid and which recognises the fact that in many cases their life’s savings have been tied up in houses the value of which, according to the residents, has been seriously and dangerously eroded. The second thing that we need to look at is a state inquiry as to how this was allowed to happen. Clearly the planning process has failed. The council opposed the creation of this new Brooklands Green Estate. The council stood squarely against it, yet it was passed through the state planning processes. We need an independent inquiry. It needs to establish responsibility for that which has occurred and for that which must occur—the clean-up process to ensure that, first and foremost, there is safety for residents and, second there is protection of the value of their properties. The economic losses to residents could flow into tens of millions, if not hundreds of millions, of dollars. An enormous amount of personal assets and family lifelong savings are tied up here.

Third, we need a national landfill inquiry. I have written to the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts. I have said that we need to understand that if this can happen in Cranbourne it can happen elsewhere in Australia where there are urban based landfills with methane gas which may not be properly extracted. The consequence of that is very simple. We need to have total security and total reliability for residents around Australia. We need to ensure that urban landfills do not pose a risk. Therefore, we need an audit of existing landfills to assess the risk and to make sure that this does not happen. We need to make sure that there are common national guidelines for dealing with the future extraction of such gases. We need to make sure that these gases are turned, as they are at the Woodlawn bioreactor near Canberra and elsewhere, into clean energy sources.