COLIN BARNETT I'm Just Going to Say Something
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COLIN BARNETT I’m just going to say something about lead and then any questions on that. Okay, everyone right? Okay, the pollution of lead in Esperance over the years 2005-2007 has been one of the worst environmental accidents in this State’s history. A very serious situation, one that occurred during the time of the previous government – I don’t apportion blame, but I think dealing with the issue was slow. I visited Esperance about four weeks ago and met with community people; there’s been on-going meetings within Government between community representatives, the Port of Esperance, the mining industry and other parts of Government. Today I’ve provided an update on exactly where the issue of the lead contamination in Esperance is at. First point relates to the removal of the lead itself. Two years on, or nearly two years on, there is still 9,000 tonnes of lead carbonate stored at the Port of Esperance. That will be removed and the removal will start early in the new year. What will be involved – we’ll be placing that lead into bags that will be sealed and then placed inside shipping containers. We are talking about some 300 containers. It will then be removed in three separate shipments out of the Port of Esperance as a container lot. It’s estimated that the… all of the lead will be removed by the end of March next year, so that will be a significant operation, and I thank not only the Port of Esperance, but the mining and shipping and transport groups for working with Government to ensure that that is removed and removed under stringent conditions and safely. REPORTER Is that just going to […inaudible…]? COLIN BARNETT Can I just finish… I… if you don’t mind…? Yep. Second thing is reverse osmosis. Because of the contamination, a number of children in Esperance were found to have higher than acceptable lead levels in their blood. Eleven such families have been identified and reverse osmosis filtering equipment is being installed on the rainwater tanks and the water supply to those families. That’s currently being installed now. The third issue relates to the removal of any other contamination in the town. Obviously once the lead is removed then there can be a proper – and I emphasise – a proper, cleanup of the homes and the wider community of Esperance. For those homes most affected, it is estimated the cost per household might be of the order of $10,000. The total cleanup of both residential and other premises and sites in Esperance could be in the order of $20 million. And that will, again, get underway in the new year. The next issue relates to the export of nickel. Nickel is a carcinogen, but it does not have the health problems or risks associated with lead. Nevertheless, nickel is an important issue. Can I just say at the outset nickel is the third most important mining export from this State, valued at around $4 billion a year, and that the nickel industry employs directly some 15,000 people through the Goldfields and Northern Goldfields region. It is an important but vital industry to this State. The export of nickel has been going out through the Port of Esperance for over 40 years, but clearly there were also some problems with nickel dust also being detected within the town. And while it doesn’t present a severe health issue, nevertheless this situation needs to be corrected. The Port Authority had made a decision to cease nickel exports – that is bulk nickel exports – back in September of this year. Can I say that decision was made because the Port Authority was unable to be certain that it could do the necessary capital expenditure on the port to make nickel exports secure and there was also a concern about the liability of the port and perhaps of the port directors. The decision to close the port to nickel exports was made without consultation or without the knowledge of the newly-elected Liberal-National Government. Nevertheless, we have dealt with the issue: the Minister for Transport, the Honourable Simon O’Brien, has issued at the request of the Port Authority, a directive to the Port Authority to allow bulk nickel exports to continue. That is vital for that industry and for employment, particularly in the Goldfields. However, some immediate improvements and measures will be taken at the port to upgrade and improve the infrastructure that’s used for bulk exports. That will… involve enclosing areas, improving the filtration system and the like. So a number of immediate measures will be put in place to minimise any further nickel dust getting into the atmosphere. We recognise that they are shorter term measures. In the longer term – and by that I mean the next two years – there will be a rebuilding of the infrastructure for bulk nickel exports. The existing infrastructure was built in 1967. The cost of providing and building an entirely new infrastructure, which will be a totally sealed system and therefore totally safe, is likely to be in the order of $100 million. So, the Government has addressed what I think are the major issues for Esperance: the immediate removal of lead; the reverse osmosis to make sure that drinking waters in most affected areas is safe, particularly for young children who are vulnerable to absorption of lead; to put in place a steering committee and then a full and proper cleanup of areas of contamination; and to, again, allow the continuation of nickel exports but with a commitment to upgrade the port so that it is safe for the long term. REPORTER What about nickel exports in the… nickel exports in the short term? Are you confident there wont be any safety issues there until that major upgrade is done? COLIN BARNETT Yes, I am. And there will be immediate measure put in place to make sure that there will be minimal or no nickel contamination. But can I again stress that nickel is not the issue that lead is. Lead is a serious health problem, nickel is not. REPORTER What's involved in the…? REPORTER What happens to the kids who've got elevated blood levels? What is the status of those kids? COLIN BARNETT Well they’re obviously been monitored from a health point-of-view. I met with a young mother and her daughter who had elevated lead levels, they have now declined, naturally. So, hopefully if there’s no further lead contamination, which there won’t be, then that problem has gone. REPORTER What’s involved in actually cleaning up the houses, up to 10,000… what do you have to do? COLIN BARNETT Look, it’s very thorough, very exacting equipment. Lead tends to be sticky; it’s difficult to get all of it out. Often there may be lead in roof cavities, areas like that. Often can be concentrated in corners where it’s accumulated by the wind. And it’s not… it’s not visible to a naked eye; it’s not in that concentration. So we’re talking about what are low levels but, nevertheless, in a sustained basis can be a health threat. I mean, there is no… this is very, very expensive. There is no second best way of doing this, and the cost of $10,000 per household is going to be very expensive, but there is no alternative. This will be done… can I just say this will be done properly, that is my commitment to Esperance. REPORTER What will Magellan pay? REPORTER So you’re saying it’s not visible to the naked eye, but there is actually build up of… matter? COLIN BARNETT Well not… I wouldn’t even say a build up. There are… there are… it’s detectable in very, very small amounts. But nevertheless it is a potential risk and we will take that on- board and clean up those homes that have been identified. But we are not talking about accumulations of lead, we’re talking about very low levels. Nevertheless it will be removed. REPORTER What will Magellan pay [… inaudible…] …? REPORTER How much money has already been spent by government? COLIN BARNETT Ah, look, the… Magellan will have a liability. They obviously aren’t producing; they don’t have a cash flow at the moment, and I would hope that the Government will be able to recover most of this from Magellan, and most of the cost of the upgrade to the nickel handling infrastructure will come from the nickel industry. But, in the meantime the government will deal with the problem, and we’ll worry about the financial… don’t ignore it, but we’ll worry about the issue of retrieving those funds from industry in later course. We’re just simply going to get on with it and fix this problem. REPORTER How much money….? REPORTER Have you got an agreement, or will you have to sue them? COLIN BARNETT Oh, look, there is negotiations and can I say Magellan Metals has been fully co- operative. There’s been lots of meetings held with Magellan, and equally the nickel industry and particularly BHP has been very supportive and is helping us with the arrangements to remove the lead. It requires special ships to come and the whole deal. So the industry has been very co-operative and the focus of everyone has been to get the lead removed safely from the port and the cleanup underway. REPORTER Has Magellan said they’re happy to help cover […inaudible…] costs? COLIN BARNETT Well, they will have a… they will have a liability and hopefully we’ll agree to that by negotiation… no one is denying that.