Baillieu Government blocks access to EPA over Truck Action Plan

The Baillieu Government has taken another extraordinary step in their campaign to kill off the Truck Action Plan by denying the Labor Opposition a chance to meet with the EPA regarding a proposed diesel emission study in the inner-west says Wade Noonan MP.

Speaking in the Victorian Parliament yesterday, the Shadow Minister for Roads, Jacinta Allan MP, indicated that she had made repeated requests to the Minister for the Environment and Climate Change, Ryan Smith, for a meeting with the CEO of the EPA, but had been denied on each occasion.

“The Environment Protection Authority is an independent statutory authority established by an act of Parliament,” Ms Allan said.

“It is clearly within its scope to hold a meeting with members of Parliament regardless of their political persuasion, and I am concerned that the minister and his office are intervening and stopping the Environment Protection Authority from performing one of its independent duties -- briefing members of Parliament who are making representations on behalf of concerned members of the public about environmental matters.”

The EPA conducted an Assessment of Air Quality, Traffic Noise and Community Health Perceptions Survey in 2002 which found some increase in risk of adverse health effects for those residents with pre-existing heart and respiratory health conditions.

Given the passage of time since the initial survey had been conducted, a number of residents had approached Wade Noonan requesting an update.

“This just proves that the Baillieu Government will go to extraordinary lengths to kill off the Truck Action Plan, thereby ensuring that the number of trucks on residential streets will continue to grow year on year,” Mr Noonan said.

“The Minister has refused to meet with the community because he knows that there is no future for the Truck Action Plan.”

“The previous State Labor Government had a firm and well supported solution to removing truck traffic from residential streets and even allocated the first $40 million to commence the first of three stages of the truck bypass route.”

“The fact that the Baillieu Government is now willing to deny the Labor Opposition a chance to even meet with the EPA about updating their environmental study suggests to me that they don’t care about the health and well-being of people in Melbourne’s west.”

“This is an affront to democracy in this state and makes a mockery of Premier Baillieu’s pledge to be an open and accountable government.”

“The Baillieu Government are clearly going to scrap the Truck Action Plan, so why don’t they just admit it.”