Watchdog must take on more polluters: new boss

Author: By ADAM MORTON ENVIRONMENT REPORTER
Date: 19/04/2010
 Source: AGE

VICTORIA'S environmental watchdog has stopped prosecuting at the level it should and must tackle a perception it is a toothless apologist for polluting industries, its new boss says.

Environment Protection Authority Victoria, the government agency responsible for defending the state against pollution, launched just 11 prosecutions last year.

In what will be interpreted as an attack on previous management, new EPA chief executive John Merritt said the number of businesses being charged for environmental breaches did not reflect what was happening in the community.

"We have lost some regulatory energy 11 is not enough," he told The Age. "If you are telling me there are only 11 people out there who should be explaining themselves to a magistrate each year, on my early look that's a bit of a surprise."

The former chief executive of WorkSafe Victoria, Mr Merritt said the EPA's core job must be to set standards and regulate accordingly.

He denied he was being critical of the organisation under former chief executive Mick Bourke, who stepped down in September to run the Country Fire Authority, saying he was articulating feedback he had received since starting in the job in February. This included that the EPA was seen as toothless and had lost balance that it was too focused on helping businesses reduce pollution rather than prosecuting on behalf of taxpayers.

Mr Merritt cited the case of dust pollution at the Brooklyn industrial estate in Melbourne's west, which EPA testing found breached health standards nearly once a week last summer. The testing followed years of campaigning by the local community. Six companies were issued with pollution abatement notices.

"I think there is a sense that the community see us partly as an apologist for these things," Mr Merritt said. "That's not right we have very strong views about what is good enough and what's not."

Business groups have responded cautiously to Mr Merritt's stance, outlined in a series of recent speeches. The Australian Industry Group's Victorian director Tim Piper said Mr Merritt had a proven record as a regulator, but warned that only 5 per cent of businesses deliberately did the wrong thing, and a harsher regulatory approach could force them underground. "Let's understand that 95 per cent of businesses want to do the right thing," he said.

Mr Merritt said there would be few surprises in the businesses that the EPA targeted. Five sites dominated complaints to the agency in the last half of 2009: Australian Native Landscaping in Coldstream, Australian Tallow Producers in Brooklyn, Caterfare in Flemington and two waste companies, Consolidated Waste in Cranbourne and CMA Recycling in Ringwood.

Recently the EPA announced it would create a "strike team" to counter an expected rise in illegal rubbish dumping, as the state increased landfill levies to encourage recycling.

Mr Merritt also flagged the introduction of an internal review to enable businesses and individuals to protest against a pollution notice.

Mr Bourke said he believed the EPA did the right thing in his time in the job, and wished Mr Merritt success.