Originally published January 10, 2007
THE community’s united front against a proposed toxic waste dump at Nowingi has prevailed.
A dejected looking Deputy Premier John Thwaites and Planning Minister Justin Madden made the announcement that no dump would be built at Nowingi, or any part of Victoria.
The announcement was met throughout Sunraysia by ecstatic members of the community and high-profile toxic dump campaigners.
Deputy Premier Thwaites said there would not be another siting process for a long-term containment facility in Victoria, and instead the government will rely on the Lyndhurst landfill for safe management and disposal of industrial waste until 2020.
In Sunraysia and Melbourne, opponents of the dump proposal rejoiced in the government’s decision.
Many touted the announcement as a win for democracy, and fair process.
Hattah Store proprietor Alex Dowsley said he was “totally happy” with the decision by the State Government to abandon plans for the dump.
“It’s cost us two-and-a-half years of our lives — not just us but everybody in the fight — and we were fighting a bureaucracy which had things the wrong way around as far as I was concerned,” he said.
“It means we can now get back to looking at the business as a business. It means I can now do some maintenance around the place and restore connections with family and friends.”
Peter Crisp, who led the Save the Food Bowl Alliance and campaigned heavily against the toxic waste dump in the 2006 election, was thrilled by the release of the planning panel review.
“The community rallied together and refused to cave in, even when the State Government poured millions of dollars of taxpayer’s money into hiring so-called experts and a legal team to defend its position,” Mr Crisp said.
“The amount of support that I received from the local community was staggering, and the decision is wonderful news for Sunraysia district families, who stood united and resolute in the face of adversity.”
Mr Crisp said he would now push for compensation on behalf of the local community, which has spent millions of dollars fighting the proposed dump.
“The Mildura Rural City Council should be compensated immediately for the money it has spent on behalf of ratepayers,” Mr Crisp said.
“It has been an exhausting and costly process which should never have been undertaken, if the Bracks Government had been willing to listen from day one.”
Initially, it was Tiega/Galah, near Ouyen, that was named in November 2003 as one of three sites being investigated by the government to place a hazardous waste containment facility.
However, by May 2004 the government named Nowingi as the nominated site for the dump, sparking immediate fury from the horticultural sector.
Mildura Rural City Council took an instant stance against the proposal, a stance the then Mayor Peter Byrne saw through to finalisation, although then not in office.
With the formation of the Save the Food Bowl Alliance and with strong council and community support, the battle against the proposal was under way.
A visit by Major Projects Minister Peter Batchelor in June 2004 brought traffic to a standstill in Deakin Avenue when about 1300 gathered to vent their anger at the minister.
Eight municipalities supported the fight, and about 1000 people marched through Melbourne’s centre to Parliament House in October 2004 where Member for Mildura Russell Savage presented the government with 6000 copies of an open letter of protest signed by Sunraysia residents.
Rare and endangered species were identified at the Nowingi site, while the government’s own consultant foreshadowed an annual cost of between $300 million and $400 million and 300 job losses to the region if the plan went ahead.
Copies of Environment Effects Statement were released in October 2005 and residents were urged to continue to raise funds to support the fight.
Mr Crisp flagged his intention to contest the State seat of Mildura at the looming November 2006 election, just months before the crucial independent toxic waste dump panel hearing was due to begin.
The hearing concluded in September 2006 without a decision and the community could only wait.
An action plan, should the proposal go ahead, was enacted and included a strong suggestion to blockade the site.
Without any prior warning, the Victorian Government Planning Minister announced, at a press conference on January 9, that after a lengthy inquiry and numerous government reports — costing as much as $25 million — the plans would be abandoned.
