I rise today to speak against the planned expansion of Boral’s Western Landfill, which is currently being considered by Melton City Council. The community response against this expansion has been enormous. The City of Melton has already received nearly 2000 letters of objection — the largest response it has ever had to a planning permit application in the area. Over 3000 people have signed a petition opposing the expansion, and it is pretty clear that the community does not want to see this tip expansion go ahead.

It is also clear that the community has a pretty good reason for this, and that is that Boral is seeking to expand the size of the landfill site by the equivalent of over 100 MCGs. The current site is already plagued by existing concerns over constant odour pollution. Environment Protection Authority Victoria (EPA) has received 48 odour reports in and around the Caroline Springs area since July last year, and it does not look like a solution to the current problem has been found. The expanded site is proposed to have a 500-metre buffer located around the perimeter of the existing and proposed landfill sites. The EPA’s best practice would normally require a 1000-metre buffer. The site is situated in Ravenhall, in the middle of Melbourne’s western growth corridor, among rapidly growing suburbs such as Caroline Springs, Deer Park, Derrimut and Rockbank. I take the opportunity to thank the member for Kororoit and a member for Western Metropolitan Region in the other place, Cesar Melhem, MLC, for all the work on this issue they have done to date.