The Greens are extremely disappointed at the revelation that Cadbury Mondelez deliberately hid vital information from TasWater and the Tasmanian community which led to Hobart beaches being closed just days before Christmas last year.
Back in December when we knew a disaster was unfolding, TasWater informed the public their waste treatment facility had been catastrophically compromised by Cadbury Mondelez. A large quantity of untreatable trade waste overwhelmed the treatment facility at Cameron Bay, killing the bacteria and rendering the plant useless.
What the public wasn’t told was that Cadbury Mondelez failed to inform TasWater of the problem for twelve days.
Why would TasWater not tell us about these revelations, brought to light by ABC News, when the Greens met were briefed by TasWater management on the Mondelez breach on Tuesday of this week?
The people of southern Tasmania are witnessing horrific environmental damage to our waterways. With the horrors this summer of pollution from salmon carcasses and fatty, antibiotic-ridden deposits washing up on our beaches to this significant breach by Cadbury Mondelez at Cameron Bay, the Greens are asking for answers.
The government, TasWater, EPA and large industrial companies must clean up their act. This is a system failure, a matter of ignoring previous warning signs, of not being honest with the public, and not undertaking their responsibilities. It cannot continue as business as usual.
Tasmania’s image of clean waterways is at risk if we continue to allow big business and multinational companies to ignore their environmental and social responsibilities.
We expect honesty and transparency from the companies responsible and the agencies whose responsibility it is to protect our waterways and estuarine ecosystems.
The Greens call on TasWater and the government to improve monitoring and reporting of trade waste from big industry and it should be companies like Cadbury that bear the cost, not Tasmanian taxpayers or TasWater customers.
