The Keneally Government's disgraceful decision to burn to death helpless penguins nesting on Montague Island has been slammed as senseless cruelty that must be investigated by the RSPCA, Shadow Minister for Environment Catherine Cusack said today.

An unknown number of Montague Island penguins were killed earlier today by the National Parks and Wildlife Service during a weed operation gone wrong.

The NPWS have an annual programme of burning small patches of vegetation to clear weeds. Following a disastrous operation in which hundreds of penguins were burned, strict procedures were adopted to prevent senseless deaths of these endangered birds.

Ms Cusack, who has previously visited Montague Island and inspected the weed eradication programme said she was shocked and saddened by the incident.

"This year's operation required the assistance of sniffer dogs to locate penguin so they could be removed to a place of safety. When the sniffer dogs, a key requirement of the operation were unavailable the operation should have been postponed," Ms Cusack said.

"It is incomprehensible that a taxpayer funded agency charged with responsibility for protecting these penguins would charge ahead, knowingly and recklessly lighting fires which resulted in needless and cruel deaths.

"To make matters worse, instead of apologising for the incident and giving details of the penguin deaths, the NPWS has hailed its operation as a "success".

"The RSPCA should immediately investigate the welfare of other penguins that may have been injured in the burn and whose burrows have been destroyed by the NPWS, and make public its findings. If any departmental Officer has breached his or her duty of care then prosecutions should ensue."

"It is an unacceptable and sickening incident and shows that lessons from past accidents have not been learned," Ms Cusack said.

Liberal candidate for Penrith, Stuart Ayres is demanding Labor stop dumping toxic waste in the precious Nepean River.

Mr Ayres has brought the Shadow Minister for Climate Change and Environmental Sustainability, Catherine Cusack to the Nepean River, to inspect first hand the damage being done.

“It is a disgrace that Labor allows the environmental vandalism to occur,” said Mr Ayres.

“Even more concerning, is that it appears Labor is trying to hide the truth from the community as it fails to release the latest data from Sydney Water – the major polluter,” said Mr Ayres.

Ms Cusack told Parliament this week that the Labor Government owned Sydney Water is removing 70 tonnes of contaminants from sewage and then issuing itself licenses through the EPA to discharge those contaminants directly into the Nepean River. It's disgusting.

The latest available data from the Environmental Protection Authority reveals a 138% increase in suspended solids dumped by Sydney Water into the Nepean River, up from 3.33 tonnes in 2007 to 7.944 tonnes in 2008. Zinc was up 12% and phosphorus up 60%, from 842 kilograms to 1.347 tonnes. The number of organisms and bacteria, which suck oxygen from the water, tripled from six tonnes to nearly 19 tonnes. (Full breakdown of pollutants attached)

“Data for 2008-09 has not been released by Labor, leading many people to question what they are trying to hide,” Ms Cusack said.

“Labor has bungled plans to cease toxic and hazardous discharges into the Nepean River. A new plant that would prevent the discharge of hazardous waste into the river was due to open this year, but has been scaled back and slowed down, and is at least another year away.”

Mr Ayres said the Nepean River is the pride of the region.

“Our rivers, which are living and breathing ecosystems, are relied upon by wildlife and are much loved by our community,” Mr Ayres said.

“Labor must stop discharging toxic and hazardous waste into the Nepean River.

“The river is the centre of family and visitor recreation including boating, swimming and fishing. It is alarming to realise the sheer volume of toxic waste pouring into the river upstream of these activities.

“I want a return to pristine water quality, to ensure healthy habitats for aquatic and land based plants and wildlife. Local families have a fundamental right to enjoy our river, secure in the knowledge it is a clean, safe and thriving environment.”

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“… investment in advanced processing technologies (AWTs) has lagged expectations. As a result, the flow of putrescible waste to landfill has not yet been arrested – nearly 2 million tonnes of Sydney putrescible waste were sent to landfill last year.” (Wright Report, March 2009)

The “Public Review Landfill Capacity and Demand” (March 2009) report by the Wright Corporation to former Planning Minister Kristina Keneally, confirms the State Government has badly bungled Sydney’s waste services, Shadow Minister for Environment Catherine Cusack said today.

“The report reveals Sydney has failed to make the shift to recycling and as a result, landfill in the metropolitan area is rapidly running out,” Ms Cusack said.

“The 2008 audit of Sydney landfill space finds that Jack’s Gully had closed, and Belrose was being decommissioned. That left Eastern Creek with 3.3 million tonnes capacity and Lucas Heights with 5.5 million tonnes.  In spite of diminishing space in landfills, the amount of putrescibles waste going to landfill increased to 1.85 million tonnes in 2007/08. 

“This is a fiasco. The alternative to landfill is to first reduce the amount of waste generated, and secondly recycle.  In 2008 Sydney’s two AWT (Alternate Waste Technology) Centres for recycling putrescibles were supposed to take 275,000 tonnes of waste per year but experienced operating problems and were sold at “asset write-off” prices. Although two new AWTs have come on line since the report was written, they will only take a maximum 210,000 tonnes per year.

“The Government’s policies are not working because the Sydney waste market is dysfunctional, recycling is not viable and bureaucracy is hindering the development of new AWTs.

“Unless something happens quickly to improve our waste performance, we will have to start planning to transport all Sydney’s landfill garbage (2 million tonnes) to Woodlawn, near Taralga (250 km south of Sydney).  

Ms Cusack blamed the woeful and inept policies of the State Government. “The Government sees waste as a money making opportunity to plug the budget black hole.

Apart from taxing landfills, the Government’s only other response is to “cap” the amount of rubbish permitted into landfill. But according to the report, caps are not working either.

In 2008 the Government capped putrescible waste going to landfill at 1,535,00 tonnes. However more than 1,850,000 tonnes were dumped in 2007/08 (p 2-3).

“This means, 315,000 tonnes of extra waste went into landfill beyond what was approved. It is the classic King Canute method of telling the garbage to go away, and when it continues to flow in, cover up any reports that tell the truth about what is really happening.

“The Environment Minister at the time of the report was Carmel Tebbutt.  Our Premier and Deputy Premier are responsible for squandering an entire year preparing for the looming crisis.

Sydney’s Waste Facts:

(refer: DECC: Waste Avoidance and Recovery Progress Report 2008)

“Sydney generated around 870,000 tonnes more waste in 2006-07 or 196 kg more per person.” (p6)

“In 2006-07, Sydney recycled 54% of its waste, up from 49% recycled in 2004-05. The rest (4.52 million tonnes) mainly went to landfill. A small amount, around 50,000 tonnes was diverted to a number of alternative waste treatment facilities that have commenced operation across Sydney.

Reports:

The “Public Review Landfill Capacity and Demand” (March 2009) report by the Wright Corporation to former Planning Minister Kristina Keneally

http://www.planning.nsw.gov.au/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=Xtm8jz6j7WI%3d&tabid=70&language=en-AU

Waste Avoidence and Recovery Progress Report (2008) – released March 2008

http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/resources/warr/09155WARRreport08.pdf

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The State Labor Government has wasted millions of dollars on the Tallowa fish lift, which hasn’t been working for the last four months, Shadow Minister for Climate Change and Environmental Sustainability Catherine Cusack said today.

“The State Labor Government spent millions of dollars building a fish lift at Tallowa Dam, announced its opening with great fanfare and then left it sitting broken for four months,” Ms Cusack said.

“The State Labor Government’s incompetence knows no bounds,” she said.

“Sadly for taxpayers, there is more money than water pouring over the Tallowa Dam spillway.

“You could pay someone with a fish net $500 a week for 1,000 years and it would have been cheaper.

“The State Labor Government must release any reports on the lift's performance and give an assurance that it is not killing endangered species.

 “When I was at Tallowa Dam in February local residents told me about the lift having been broken since November, and they were promised it would be fixed within two weeks. Now four months later, the lift is still not working.

“It seems as though the only way to get this spin-driven, incompetent State Labor Government to fix the lift is to publicly shame it into action.

“Local Labor Member Matt Brown and Water Minister Phil Costa were happy to celebrate the opening of the lift, but when things go wrong and need fixing, they are no where to be found.

“This is typical of the Kristina Keneally ‘lights, camera, no-action’ approach to Government – pose for a photo at an event opening, but run for cover if there is actually something of substance that needs to be done.

“If Matt Brown was an effective local member he should have been banging on the Water Minister’s door demanding the fish lift be fixed, but he did nothing.

“The only way to change NSW for the better is to elect a NSW Liberals & Nationals Government in 2011.