John Murphy (Reid, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The O'Farrell government's decision to break its promise and dump radioactive waste in Lidcombe in my electorate of Reid is totally unacceptable to me and to the people I represent in this place. As Minister for Western Sydney, Mr O'Farrell must immediately answer the following questions. What facility in Lidcombe has confirmed it will accept the radioactive waste? Will the radioactive waste be processed and moved elsewhere or stored in Lidcombe indefinitely? What new information has led Mr O'Farrell to move the radioactive waste to Lidcombe? How would the radioactive waste be stored in Lidcombe? Given that last week finance and services minister Greg Pearce said that Kemps Creek was the only facility in the state that could handle the Hunters Hill radioactive waste, what advice has the state government received about how much waste Kemps Creek and Lidcombe can expect? Has the O'Farrell government done a risk analysis of the health dangers from any potential leakage or spillage of radioactive waste in Lidcombe or Kemps Creek?

Western Sydney should not be a dumping ground for the North Shore's radioactive waste. Before the New South Wales state election Premier O'Farrell said that dumping radioactive waste in Western Sydney would be stupid. Finally, I ask Mr O'Farrell: has this plan been rushed through to avoid the political fallout which is occurring at the moment in the Liberal-held seat of Mulgoa?