Andrew Hastie (Canning, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Home Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Today I rise to raise a stinker of an issue, and I'm not just playing with words. We have a stink that hangs over the northern part of my electorate, and it's making life miserable for thousands of residents in Lakelands, Madora Bay, Singleton, Meadow Springs and beyond. I'm referring to the persistent and foul odour coming from businesses near these suburbs in Nambeelup. The smell is making homes unlivable. Outdoor activities are becoming unbearable. Families are embarrassed to invite friends over and socialise. Kids can't play outside of school, and people are forced to keep their windows closed in the middle of summer. They can't turn their air conditioning on, because the smell is then blown into their homes. This isn't normal, and it shouldn't be accepted.

The smell is so bad that the Western Australian Department of Water and Environmental Regulation has a dedicated reporting function on its website just for the smell. This is not normal and should not be accepted. Thousands of people have reported it, and when they follow up they're provided with a generic response saying the department is aware of the issue—bureaucratic jargon for, 'We're not going to do anything about this.'

Labor's WA environment minister is silent, and local Labor members are missing in action. In April I held a community forum on this issue, and hundreds of locals turned up, including people I'd never met before, because when your backyard smells like landfill you want answers. I invited the WA environment minister and the department to attend the forum, but they declined. Apparently, the urgency felt by the community wasn't enough to drag them out of their offices. I think their absence speaks volumes. It's easy to ignore a problem when you're not the one breathing it in.

I've been chasing a meeting with the minister since April, and I'm pleased to report that I finally secured a meeting in September. I'll be bringing more than polite conversation to this meeting, and, if the minister won't come to Mandurah, I'll bring Mandurah to him. Last week I launched a petition on my website, calling on the WA government to take action, which has already been signed by nearly 700 locals. The result is more than a petition; it's a community sick and tired of being ignored. I'll be tabling the petition at the appropriate time, and I'll show it to the minister along with every concern and story I've been told by locals.

I'd like to thank the locals that have raised this issue with me, especially Wendy, who manages a Facebook page with more than 1,000 members on this very issue. I suspect the minister would love for me to be quiet about this, but that's why we come here and represent our constituents on all issues; that's our job. I won't stop talking about this until there's a real outcome. For local families, local businesses and kids stuck indoors, I call on the Western Australian state government to stop dodging and start listening. My community deserves better.