Statement from Slater & Gordon regarding St Helens scientific reports
National law firm Slater & Gordon said today the scientific reports it currently holds regarding allegations of water contamination in St Helen’s would only be released on instructions from the firm’s clients who had commissioned and paid for the studies.
Mr Peter Long, Slater & Gordon Group Practice leader, said the firm’s St Helens clients were keen to see any investigation uncover the truth.
“Repeatedly, my clients have communicated to the Director of Public Health and to Mr John Ramsay that they would hand over the research they have commissioned to such an inquiry,” Mr Long said.
Any inquiry examining the issues at St Helens is likely to assess information from the Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Environment as well as the Environment Protection Authority and may well also consider the conduct of the Department and Authority over several years.
The current proposed inquiry is to be headed by Mr John Ramsay, currently Chair of the EPA and a former head of the Department of Primary Industries, Water and Environment.
Mr Long said that without in any way questioning Mr Ramsay’s integrity, the current inquiry places him in an invidious position.
“Mr Ramsay may well be called on to assess research conducted and findings reached by an organisation he currently chairs and a department he has previously lead.
“The inquiry must be seen to be independent. My clients would much prefer to see an investigation that was more at arms length from these two crucial government entities.
“In any event, the research held by Slater & Gordon only validates research that Dr Scammell and Dr Bleaney have already done and presented to the Panel,” Mr Long said.
On ABC Online:
Water toxicity inquiry appointment questioned
Further questions have been raised about the appropriateness of appointing a senior Tasmanian bureaucrat to head the independent panel investigating water toxicity claims on the state’s east coast.
Environment Protection Authority chief John Ramsay is heading a panel of experts investigating claims that the drinking water in St Helens contains tree toxins from plantations.
National law firm Slater and Gordon is representing a number of local oyster farmers, who say their stock has been damaged by the toxins.
Lawyer Peter Long says the panel is also likely to assess earlier findings from both the Department of Primary Industries, Water and Environment, and the Department of Health.
Mr Ramsay has headed both departments.
Mr Long says “that without in any way questioning Mr Ramsay’s integrity”, the “inquiry places him in an invidious position”.
He says it must be seen to be independent. Read HERE
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