Moira Shire Council referred to IBAC over asbestos removal

By Max Stainkamph

Mar 9, 2023

Dangerous: Moira Shire Council has been referred to IBAC about illegal transfer of asbestos from Numurkah to Tungamah and Strathmerton. Photo by Ray Sizer

Moira Shire Council has been referred to the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission about alleged corrupt conduct in transferring asbestos-contaminated soil to waste transfer stations unlicensed to receive it, putting staff and contractors at risk.

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The revelations came to light in the Commission of Inquiry into Moira Shire Council report, which resulted in Victorian Local Government Minister Melissa Horne dismissing the council in parliament this week.

Council was aware of the risks and the illegality of moving the asbestos, and suspended the co-ordinator of waste and recycling John Mangan on “wholly spurious reasons” when he tried to make a stand against the move, the report said.

The report also said council did not provide appropriate protective equipment to workers or notify any authorities it was undertaking the work.

In 2019, council undertook preparatory works to excavate and remove a large quantity of soil contaminated with toxic substances, including bonded asbestos (known as ACM), from a tip site in Rowe St, Numurkah.

The same project was opposed in 2014 by three councillors due to the “serious risks” involved in excavating a site “widely known within council and the community to contain toxic substances and highly likely to contain bonded asbestos”.

“Under EPA regulations, fill containing asbestos could only be removed and transported to a site licensed to receive it,” the report said.

“There was no such site in Moira Shire.

“Undaunted, the council decided to excavate the contaminated soil and transfer it to waste transfer stations at Tungamah and Strathmerton.

“These sites were not licensed to receive asbestos-contaminated fill.”

The report said this information was sent to council in a report in February 2020, specifically warning it about the dangers of excavation, and Mr Mangan “warned repeatedly against what council proposed to do”.

Council went ahead with the project in April 2020, excavating and transporting the asbestos-contaminated soil to Tungamah and Strathmerton.

The report said no asbestos or occupational health and safety plan was put in place, nor were contractors supplied with protective clothing or equipment.

Meanwhile, the trucks transporting the contaminated fill were not licensed to do so, while staff were confused about how to deal with the material.

“This was on any measure a Faustian compromise in which the trade-off was the health of the council’s workforce, the contractors engaged to excavate and transport the contaminated fill and Moira Shire residents,” the report said.

“The commission considers that council’s actions in excavating and transferring contaminated fill, which they knew contained potentially friable ACM asbestos, against EPA and WorkSafe regulations, to sites that they knew were not licensed to receive it constituted serious misconduct.”