MINISTER OUT OF TOUCH ON C-CELL CONSULTATION

The Tasmanian Greens Member for Lyons, Tim Morris MP, said the Environment Minister Brian Wightman has failed to keep abreast of the critical response needed to deal with the community’s concerns over a proposed C-cell waste facility at Copping.

In State Parliament this morning, Mr Morris asked the Minister for an update on the creation of the community consultative committee for the proposed development, which was agreed to by Southern Waste Solutions last year.

“Southern Waste Solutions gave a commitment to establishing a community consultative committee last year, nominations closed on November 30, and there has been no progress reported by them since,” Mr Morris said.

“It was clear also that the Minister had no idea about what progress was being made on the consultation process, which suggests that the Minister is not actually much interested in making this development successful.”

“The Greens intervened last year to help secure a commitment for a renewed consultation process because we were concerned that many people were not even aware of the project until after it had received approval.”

“The proposal remains highly contentious and neither Southern Waste Services, nor the Minister are showing appropriate respect for the legitimate community concerns.”
Tim Morris MP Greens Member for Lyons Thursday, 7 March 2013