MAY 5, 2020 \ STARWEEKLY.COM.AU
Celebrating mums
(Damjan Janevski) 207833_01
Kat Buttigieg is conident this Sunday will be just like any other Mother’s Day, despite the coronavirus crisis. The mum-of-three is preparing for a relaxing day alongside children James, 10, Luke, 8, and Emma 5. “It will probably be a similar day to usual. I get coffee and breakfast made for me and brought to me in bed, and I won’t do any housework or house duties during the day,” Kat said. “We usually meet up with the grandmothers for brunch. We’ll probably FaceTime at some point instead, which will be nice.”
Toxic soil at Ravenhall By Tate Papworth he Ravenhall landill has begun accepting PFAS contaminated soil, the Environment Protection Authority has conirmed. he move has angered local MPs who claim the west is being used as a dumping ground. Ravenhall is one of three sites in negotiations with the state government, which is in need of a facility to store 1.5 million cubic metres of rock and soil from the West Gate Tunnel project. In documentation seen by Star Weekly, the
EPA conirmed the Ravenhall landill had begun accepting contaminated soil. “EPA is aware of small volumes of soil impacted with low levels of PFAS being disposed of at the Cleanaway facility in Ravenhall, consistent with their licence. “EPA has not yet received an application from the West Gate Tunnel Project or Cleanaway for the Ravenhall site to receive larger volumes of waste soil from the proposed tunnel section.” When questioned by Star Weekly, the EPA did not conirm if the soil being dumped at
Ravenhall is from the West Gate Tunnel Project. Western Metropolitan MP Bernie Finn said he’d been let seething over the lack of transparency surrounding the toxic soil. “I’m about to explode over this,” Mr Finn said. “he state government is treating the west like we don’t matter. “he secrecy around all this is infuriating … I’ve raised this a number of times in Parliament and I’m yet to receive any answers on what’s being dumped and where.” Western Victoria MP Bev McArthur echoed Mr Finn’s
sentiments. “his government is totally opposed to transparency,” Ms McArthur said. Meanwhile, Brimbank council reairmed its opposition to accepting the soil at a special meeting held last Tuesday. Mayor Georgina Papafotiou said the council would again write to the Victorian government to represent their ongoing concerns. “Our community is really concerned about reports that this contaminated ill could be transported through Brimbank and dumped in the west,” Cr Papafotiou said.
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