Grievance Debate

West Lakes, Contamination

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN (Lee) (15:32): If it please the Deputy Premier, I rise to speak on an important matter for the constituents I represent in the suburb of West Lakes. It came to light in recent days that there is a new issue of contamination which has arisen for residents who live in particular parts of West Lakes. I am thinking of those parts of West Lakes at the very top of Old Port Road, whether it is at Settlers Drive or Hero Way, or a little further south at Lochside Drive and at Lakeview Avenue, and also at the north-eastern corner of Delfin Island.

I was not aware of this. I have represented the electorate of Lee for the last 6½ years, but back in the year 2000 and in the subsequent years an issue of cadmium pollution came to light and was of great concern to residents in those areas. What came out of the public outcry and concern about that contamination issue was that those parts of West Lakes I have just spoken about were built up, as some of the last parts of the Delfin West Lakes development, out of sewerage sludge from the old Port Adelaide Wastewater Treatment Plant, which is now no longer in operation but located just off Frederick Road.

This sewerage sludge was used basically as fill to raise the level of the land in order that those parts of West Lakes could be redeveloped. At the time, the issue of cadmium pollution was raised after some soil testing had shown elevated levels of it. Such was the outcry at the time that the then member for Lee, the Hon. Michael Wright, led the campaign on behalf of and in conjunction with residents to ensure that the then Liberal government paid for the remediation of the approximately 200 properties that were affected by this pollution.

Fast-forward to the current day, and it is my great displeasure to report that a new pollution issue has arisen as a result of using this sewerage sludge from the old Port Adelaide Wastewater Treatment Plant, and that is the subject about which we have heard a lot in recent years—that is, PFAS. I would spell out what it stands for, but I know I will get it wrong. However, we understand that this is a material of great concern, and most recently it has come to light in the use of firefighting foams and other fire retardants by both metropolitan firefighting services around the country and defence firefighting services, including here in South Australia in the northern suburbs around the Edinburgh airbase.

As far as I am advised by the Environment Protection Authority, the effects of PFAS on humans are still not readily understood, but it is sufficiently concerning for residents to be worried about it. I am pleased that, as a result of this issue coming to light 20 years ago and the extensive and specific remediation works done at the time for residents in that area, the EPA keeps very detailed records of all the remediation works that were done to properties to minimise the risk of people living in those properties being exposed to cadmium. The advice is that those measures, if they are still in place, should be sufficient to protect residents from the risk of PFAS contamination.

However, what has been raised with me in recent days by a number of home owners in that area, particularly those who have bought into the area in the last 15 years, is that they were not aware of this contamination issue when they bought their properties. Twenty years ago, it was a requirement that the form 1, which is served with a successful real estate contract, contains the details of this contamination. But I have had many residents who have admitted to me that they did not sufficiently wade through the 40 to 50 pages of detail of that form 1 in order to make themselves aware of this contamination issue.

I would have thought that the experienced real estate agents working in these areas would have taken it upon themselves to advise residents of this issue before contracts were signed and cooling-off periods had expired. It is my unfortunate duty to report to the house that it seems in many instances this has not been done. On behalf of my community and my constituents in West Lakes, I am very worried that they may have undertaken works to their properties that may have caused some risk of exposure, and I will be pursuing this issue both with SA Water and the EPA in the coming days.

Time expired.