BY GARY-JON LYSAGHT
The Greens have teamed up with the Nick Xenophon Team to make the Government disclose how $55 million is being used to remediate the Williamtown Red Zone.
The Greens have teamed up with the Nick Xenophon Team to make the Government disclose how $55 million is being used to remediate the Williamtown Red Zone.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull made the funding
announcement almost three months ago, following the Department of Defence
taking responsibility for the contamination.
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| The Williamtown Red Zone |
However, it is still not known when and where the funding
will be spent.
Greens Senator Lee Rhiannon has said the contamination has
caused serious mental health issues in the community.
“They’re living with uncertainty, uncertainty about their
future health, uncertainty about their future economic changes,” she said.
“This is deeply wrong and that’s why, with this $55 million
funding package, the Government should come clean.”
“Say it’s being used, say how they’re going to compensate
these people.”
The communities in Williamtown, Fullerton Cove and Salt Ash have
been experiencing problems with the contamination for more than a year now,
with the spill contributing to dirty drinking water and halts to fishing
throughout the region.
Senator Rhiannon has also questioned why those nearby the
Red Zone also haven’t been given access to town water like those inside it.
“We know that the Red Zone is just an arbitrary zone and
many residents outside of it are also in contamination area and all of them
should be connected to town water,” she said.
“The Greens, with the community have consistently taken up
the right of local people to have clean water.”
[Image courtesy of ABC News].
[Image courtesy of ABC News].
