Greens MP Ian Cohen supports the Administrative Appeals Tribunal decision to stop the scuttling of HMAS Adelaide until a more rigorous assessment of the ship is undertaken.
“Premier Keneally should publicly reprimand Minister Tony Kelly for his misrepresentation on the removal of PCBs from the ship. The only word to describe Minister Kelly and Minister Garrett’s handling of the proposed scuttling is incompetent,” says Mr Cohen.
“Instead of undertaking this project in a transparent and accountable way whereby the community is given an ability to participate and engage in the project planning, the Ministers sought to haphazardly rush through the project ignoring basic checks and balances on environmental and public safety.”
“Minister for Land Tony Kelly indicated on 24 February 2010 to the NSW Parliament that ‘all PCBs, lead and other toxic materials have been removed’ even before the ship had been tested or assessed. (The first PCB testing on HMAS Adelaide did not occur until March 5)
Minister Garrett’s department didn’t even apply the correct guidelines to assess the alleged decontamination of the ship. Blunder after bureaucratic blunder has the local community rightly concerned.
“The Department of Lands signed contracts for service relating to the scuttling event, without any contingency provisions, before any State or Federal environmental approvals had been obtained. Minister Kelly was 100% sure he would get approval before the appropriate assessments were done.”
“Blame for the wasted funds on the event must fall squarely on Ministers Kelly and Garrett. The local community have been questioning Minister Garrett for over 2 months about the dumping permit. In a bid to deny the local community their legal rights he issued the permit only 2 days before the ship was to be towed to Avoca Beach.”
“The No Ship Action Group are simply local community members that deeply care about their local beach. Their challenge in the Administrative Appeals Tribunal has highlighted the incompetence of the NSW Government and the Labor Government’s reckless indifference to the environment.”
“All the local community wants is the evidence that the scuttling will not have adverse effects on the Avoca Beach environment and health of its residents. When we see photos of viscous yellow substances weeping from the ends of electrical cables, believed to be PCBs, still remaining on the ship and a Minister who gives his word all PCBs have been removed, then the local community has no other choice but to turn to the courts.”