Locally based Senator Paul Scarr has spoken in the Senate expressing his deep concern about the serious health impacts caused by odours from waste facilities on Ipswich residents—and condemning Labor for turning its back on the community.
Senator Scarr said “On 7 November 2023, I rose in the Senate to call for a public health inquiry into the impact of odours from waste facilities on the people of Ipswich. My Senate office is based in the Greater Ipswich region, and Ipswich has a number of waste facilities that were generating odours that have been causing misery to the people of Ipswich for years.”
He continued “The Labor State Government refused to convene a public health inquiry. Despite the people of Ipswich wanting a public health inquiry, the Labor Party abandoned the people of Ipswich.”
Senator Scarr commended Mayor Teresa Harding and Ipswich City Council for their leadership, as well as former LNP candidates Georgia Toft and Carl Mutzelburg for championing the cause before the last state election. He praised the Crisafulli Liberal National Party Government for delivering on its promise to convene the inquiry.
The inquiry’s final report was clear: “The findings presented concluded that odour from the Swanbank and New Chum industrial areas are impacting the community’s health.”
The report found thousands of Ipswich residents experience symptoms they attribute to odour exposure, including respiratory, ear-nose-throat, neurological, gastrointestinal, skin and mental health issues. It confirmed that odorous chemicals do not need to be at toxic levels to impact human health and identified certain waste types as highly odorous and significant contributors to these health effects.
“The Crisafulli LNP Government has now implemented all eight recommendations of that public health inquiry. It is a great result for the people of Ipswich, no thanks to the Labor Party in Ipswich.
