Image: City of Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore AO. Facebook
by HOPE PRATT
Lord Mayor Clover Moore has come under fire with critics saying she has refused to take responsibility for the ongoing asbestos crisis unfolding in the City of Sydney.
Earlier this week, an Extraordinary Council meeting was called to discuss the asbestos contamination of local Sydney parks and outline City staff’s response to the issue.
The meeting was called by Independent Councillor Yvonne Weldon, who was concerned over the City’s response to the contamination, and wanted a clear outline of the steps taken by the City to remediate affected areas.
While the Lord Mayor accused the NSW Government and the state’s environment watchdog of a “massive” and “costly” regulatory failure in the meeting, some councillors are insisting that she take her fair share of the blame.
Liberal Councillor Shauna Jarrett slammed the Lord Mayor, saying she “continues to hide behind the EPA whilst shifting blame to the NSW state government. In her world, she is not responsible but tells us she cares deeply.”
When asbestos was first discovered in Rozelle Parklands in January, council was reportedly asked to test parks in the City of Sydney municipality but declined to do so.
Council had been wrongly assured by the contractor that their mulch did not come from the affected supplier.
“The City has over 400 parks and thousands of garden beds,” said the Lord Mayor at the time. “To request that each of these sites be tested when there was no indication there was an issue is not a reasonable request.”
But the discovery of asbestos in City of Sydney parks led to the abrupt cancellation of Fair Day on Tuesday 13th February, when an investigation by the Environment Protection Authority (EPA) revealed bonded Asbestos at Victoria Park – the site of the event – and Belmore Park.
Concern then erupted over the 25,000 people who attended the Yabun Festival at Victoria Park earlier in January, before proper testing of the area had occurred.
Fifteen more parks have since been identified to be contaminated with asbestos.
Cr Jarrett said, “Residents and visitors to the City of Sydney deserve better.”
She went on to say that if testing had been conducted when initially requested, there would have been enough time to find an alternate site or have Victoria Park cleaned in time.
“It is time for the Lord Mayor to stand up and say sorry to the organisers of Fair Day, and the Yabun Festival,” reiterated Cr Jarrett.
