The Toxic Heavy Metals Taskforce Tasmania sent a letter to Mayor Darryl Gerrity last Friday 19th February and asked him as Chair of the Rosbery Reference Group to read our letter out at the Reference Group and Community Meeting being held that day in Rosebery. This was not done.
At the first community meeting held in Rosbery on the 19th January this year a letter from Minister Lara Giddings was read out at that meeting by the Taskforce Chair.
We requested that Mayor Darryl Gerrity show us the same courtesy by reading out our letter at the Reference Group and Community Meetings being held in Rosebery that day.
The media were barred from the Reference Group meeting and no report from the meeting has been made public, so we are still waiting for a response from the Chair Darryl Gerrity.
Mine Manager John Lamb and Director of Health Dr Roscoe Taylor did not mention our letter at the public meeting or to the media.
Why was our letter kept secret from the Rosebery community meeting and why should the media be barred from a community consultation process?
Our letter clearly stated our reasons for not attending the Reference Group meeting:
“The Toxic Heavy Metals Taskforce request that you read out this letter to those present at the committee Meeting and the Public Meeting being held today in Rosebery:
“Our Taskforce’s primary aim has always been for the benefit of the health and welfare of all Rosebery residents.
We have declined to participate in the Rosebery Community Reference Group on Environmental Health Risk for a number of reasons:
On 6th July 2009 we wrote to Dr Roscoe Taylor calling on him to quash the findings of the Final Report from the first Rosebery Investigation and in this letter we provided him with numerous reasons why he should do so. We were not given the opportunity to meet with him to discuss our criticisms of the Health Department and Environment Protection Authority investigations.
On the 27th July 2009 members of our Taskforce met with the MMG CEO Andrew Michelmore in Rosebery and again we were not given the opportunity to discuss our criticisms of the Health Department and Environment Protection Authority investigations.
It is our view that the principles of Community Engagement have been ignored by MMG, the Health Department and the Environment Protection Authority since the beginning of investigations in Rosebery into the effects of heavy metals on human health and the environment. Our Taskforce has offered to contribute to the design of the scope of any future population based health and environmental survey in Rosebery. The Government has publicly stated that they will not conduct such a survey in Rosebery. This position is unacceptable to us.
Decisions have been made by MMG, the Department of Health and the Environment Protection Authority about the scope of numerous investigations now underway and the appointment of consultants without any consultation with our Taskforce. We have made repeated requests to MMG and the Department of Health for important information and as yet our requests have not been fulfilled as late as this week.
It is our view that for a number of years important information has been withheld about the health effects of heavy metals for residents of Rosebery and that there is a serious lack of commitment to the principles of openness and transparency from MMG, DHS and the EPA.
It is our view that it is too late for the appropriate community consultation process to take place.”
It is essential for transparency and very important for issues concerning members of the community that all relavent information is made publicly available and can receive fair and wide reportage in the media.
At this time in the lead up to an election it is essential that Tasmanians have access to information from all sides in a controversy and that the substance of the controversy is reported fairly rather than the sensational aspects involving personal conflict or denigrating remarks.
