Rachel Payne, Member for South-East Metropolitan Melbourne, has raised serious concerns in the Victorian Parliament over the state’s increasing embrace of waste-to-energy technology, questioning its environmental, health, and policy implications.
Referencing a 7.30 Report segment highlighting Australia’s growing waste-to-energy sector (see below), Ms Payne said Victoria was leading the country in the number of proposed facilities.
Speaking on Tuesday 17 June she said: the ABC News report noted that six waste-to-energy plants are planned in Victoria – more than in all other Australian jurisdictions combined.
Ms Payne told the chamber: “Recycling Victoria continues to call for expressions of interest, even more companies are being encouraged to open even more plants.”
Her question follows on-going community concerns about HiQ’s (formerly Hi Quality) plan to build a waste-to-energy plant at its site along Sunbury Rd. See all our reports on the proposal here.
In a pointed question directed to the Minister for Environment (Steve Dimopoulos), she asked: “Why is the minister making Victoria the waste-to-energy capital of Australia?”
The question was formally referred to the Minister for Environment for a response under parliamentary standing orders.
Ms Payne followed up with a supplementary question, highlighting the broader impacts of the technology.
“Waste-to-energy produces greenhouse gases, is banned in the ACT, locks councils into long-term contracts to deliver minimum amounts of rubbish, undermines the circular economy, generates pollutants, and lacks social licence,” she said.
“Meanwhile, the amount of waste going to landfill has not improved in the four years since the state government began its circular economy policy.”
She then asked the Minister to consider whether a moratorium on waste-to-energy projects would be imposed until these concerns are meaningfully addressed.
Both the primary and supplementary questions were referred to the Minister for Environment for a formal response.
Last year MP David Ettershank raised the issue of a planned waste-energy-plant in Sunbury citing a peer-reviewed study published in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health noted increased rates of cancer and reproductive dysfunction among populations living near waste incinerators.
Below, MP Rachel Payne questions the government’s support for waste-to-energy plants, one of which is planned for Sunbury Rd, Bulla.
