Waste committee seeks news of cabinet approval for dismissal

Former members of the independent committee formed to identify precincts for hazardous waste treatment in Western Australia have demanded an explanation for a government decision which saw the group disbanded.

Media reports had appeared in the Kalgoorlie Miner and on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's website saying that Environment Minister Mark McGowan's decision to disband the Core Consultative Committee on Waste had the support of cabinet.

Former 3C Co-Chair Lee Bell, said the group had written to the Minister and Premier Alan Carpenter on three occasions over the past six weeks but were yet to receive a reply.

"The only responses to date have been indirect and often non-factual statements to the media that fail to address the key issues of process and fact that we have raised", Mr Bell said.

The committee, set up in late 2002 by former Environment Minister Judy Edwards following the 2001 fire at the Bellevue waste facility and the decommissioning of the Brookdale facility, released four recommendations for a suitable waste treatment facility location in November.

However, Mr McGowan disbanded the committee soon afterwards, saying that dedicated single-use precincts for hazardous waste treatment may be unnecessary after a series of improvements to waste management practices.

The full text of an announcement from the group is pasted below

Government Owes 3C and Public a Proper Explanation

Former members of the Core Consultative Committee on Waste (3C), summarily sacked by the Minister for the Environment, Mr McGowan, last month have written to the Premier expressing concern over media statements that Mr McGowan had Cabinet support for his actions.

In a letter, the former 3C members have asked the Premier for details of the date and wording of any Cabinet decision to rescind several previous decisions in support of the 3C program which still had about 18 months to run when the Minister axed the committee. They also asked for a rationale for the Government turning 180 degrees on the issue.

The axing of the 3C also contradicts the State Labor Platform and the Government's 2005 election policies, which outline continued support for the 3C and the establishment of dedicated hazardous waste treatment precincts.

The former members' letter to Mr Carpenter states:

"The 3C process was based on an intimate partnership between non-government stakeholders and Dr Gallop's and your Government.

"At no stage have we or the organisations we represent acted contrary to the clear and publicly-available principles that underpinned the process.

"The summary dismissal of the 3C and the ripping up of the last 18 months of its published Cabinet-endorsed stakeholder involvement program without warning... is certain to have consequences for the trust of community/environment groups in your Government and for their preparedness to work with you in future.

"We understand that Unions WA has already communicated a similar message to the Government."

Former 3C Co-Chair, Mr Lee Bell, said they had now written to the Minister and Premier on three occasions over the past six weeks but were yet to be afforded the courtesy of a written response to the questions they had raised.

"The only responses to date have been indirect and often non-factual statements to the media that fail to address the key issues of process and fact that we have raised", Mr Bell said.

"This not only does the Government no credit, but it also places its honesty and integrity at risk. The 3C ran an open, accountable and extensively publicly-documented process which often makes it quite easy to demonstrate when people, including Cabinet Ministers, make false statements about it", he said.

"We have been and remain fully committed to the 3C process and the principles underlying it for nearly four years. Unfortunately, it now appears that the Carpenter Government, in sharp contrast to the Gallop Government, does not wish to remain accountable towards the process.

"The Government also seems to think that if they ignore the key matters of fact we put to them and respond with a bit of spin to the media, that we'll give up and go away."

"If that's what they are thinking, they're wrong. It simply steels our resolve to make sure that anyone trashing the public involvement principles underlying the 3C process is held accountable for their actions", Mr Bell said.