Groups protesting the Bulla and Tullamarine tips have joined forces in the lead-up to an appeal against Hume council’s decision to grant a further three-year permit to the operators at Bulla.
With a date yet to be set for a Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal hearing, Bulla residents were invited to hear from Tullamarine Toxic Tip Action Group spokeswoman Helen van den Berg and Victorians for Smart Waste Management spokesman Harry van Moorst about the impact of pollution and management issues on residents living near landfills.
Bulla spokeswoman Carmel Egan said residents had consistently raised fears about outbreaks of fire at their local tip – which is due to be capped and cleaned up – as well as bad odours and debris blown around the neighbourhood by wind.
Ms Egan said another fire was reported by residents at the end of last month, starting from about 11.30pm on a Friday.
She said CFA volunteers were not called in until 5am the next morning, by which time the fire had been burning for hours. “It’s all very well that this occurs in the middle of winter, but imagine this fire on a hot summer’s night with a northerly wind, howling down the Deep Creek ravine,” Ms Egan said.
She said she believed local CFA officers had been “muzzled by their superiors” after speaking at a recent council meeting of their frustration at not being given the keys to the tip, to which they were regularly called to fight fire outbreaks.
Calls by Star Weekly to the CFA as a result of statements made at the council meeting have not been returned.
