Ipswich resident wants rates reduction for property due to awful odours coming from dumps

The retired miner believes the disgusting smells are just the ‘canary in the coal mine’ ahead of something much worse

Ripley resident Paul Hurley is sick of the foul odours in his suburb coming from waste companies operating in Ipswich.

AN IPSWICH resident fed up with the foul odours in his suburb coming from nearby dumps has applied to the council and the state government for a reduction in his rates due to the impact on his family’s quality of life.

The retired miner believes the disgusting smells are just the “canary in the coal mine” ahead of something much worse.

Paul Hurley has owned his block of land in Ripley since 1979.

He and wife Jenny have lived at the house since 2009 after about three decades living and working in central Queensland.

William Inonda, Azadeh Nia and Sarah Rowe Odour Abatement Taskforce at Swanbank Lake. The taskforce has cost $2.5 million since it was set up in the middle of 2018.

Mr Hurley says the state government’s Odour Abatement Taskforce, which has cost taxpayers $2.5 million to date, has had no impact since it was launched in the middle of 2018.

“They haven’t actually stopped it and in fact the odours are worse,” he said.

“My grandmother used to have the house next door and prior to that she and my grandfather owned this whole suburb of the old part of Ripley (before it was sold for development).

“I’ve been coming here since I was a baby. Even while I was away I have kept track of what was happening with this stench. I was coming back regularly to see mum and dad.”

Mr Hurley, 62, said the odours in one of Australia’s major growth areas were particularly bad on hot days.

The suburb’s population is projected to increase at a rate of 27.6 per cent every year until 2026 and the broader Ripley region is predicted to be home to more than 133,800 new residents in 2036.

Ripley is one of the largest Priority Development Areas in the country with young families flocking to residential estates.

“I see the smell as really being just a canary and I worry what else is in there and the long term health affects,” Mr Hurley said.

“There should be a freely available register of what they’re actually putting into the compost.

“I think most people just see it as an inconvenience. It’s just smell.

“But the concern I try to get out to people is it’s the particulate matter we just don’t know about.

“The smell is just the canary in the coalmine.

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“If you can smell it you’re breathing stuff in and who knows what you’re breathing in.

“It’s impacted my health. I can’t say I’ll go somewhere else. I own this house.

“I probably wouldn’t get what it’s worth because of the stench. It’s where I want to be, I just don’t want to put up with the smell.

“If I can smell that they’re breaking the law. They shouldn’t be allowed to continue if they can’t keep their smell and particulates on site.

“There weren’t any of these facilities out there when I became the owner of this property. There was a power station and some open cut coal mines. This suburb was here before those companies were allowed to go there.”

Mr Hurley said fellow residents were bemused by waste operators suffering little to no consequences when they were caught out doing the wrong thing.

Bio-Recycle copped a $300,000 fine in September for dumping hundreds of thousands of tonnes of excess waste at its Swanbank site but had made more than of $7 million from the breaches.

The company was also found to have increased the height of its landfill without Ipswich City Council approval.

Cleanaway was fined $26,600 by the Department of Environment and Science for two breaches of its environmental authority over its New Chum facility.

Mr Hurley wrote to the council seeking a rates reduction and was pushed on to the Queensland Valuer-General.

It was rejected by the Valuer-General on the basis the objection fell outside the objection period, which ended in May 2019.

He has written another letter to the Valuer-General seeking an exemption due to the impact on his mental and physical health.

“(Waste companies) are just riding roughshod over the government,” Mr Hurley said.

“The idea of asking for the rates reduction is really to try and call them into account and make them do something.

“I want to see some sort of recompense for the inconvenience.”

Paul Hurley on the Ripley property he has owned since 1979 and lived since 2009.

Georgie Tough and John Maxwell have only lived in Ripley for a month.

They built a house in the Ripley Valley estate and moved from Springfield.

“We decided over a year ago that we would purchase our new home in Ripley after looking at the various land prices,” she said.

“We realised pretty quickly that the price of land in Ripley was a lot cheaper and the land was nice and flat, plus also convenient to the highways for John for work. With so much future development that we felt this was prefect for us.

“We had no idea about the stench that was out here.”

Ms Tough said they first noticed the smells when they visited the site of their now home while it was being built.

Their dream move has been soured and Ms Tough realised how long the issue had existed after doing some research online.

“We noticed this disgusting odour in the air,” she said.

“I then noticed it more and more.

“I remember saying to John on our way out here one afternoon, that smell is so strong and disgusting, I can’t even believe that this is happening.

“Once we moved in and it was more annoying as we smelt it more often.

“It’s hard to enjoy eating meals as you can be eating and it hits you.

“You have to stop eating, close up the whole house so you don’t have to deal with it.

“I don’t want to invite people around because I’m too worried that it will happen.”

The Odour Abatement Taskforce has received more than 9500 reports about odours and dust nuisance since it was set up a year-and-a-half ago.

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It received more than 4400 odour reports last year, a 38 per cent increase from 2019, with the most number of complaints coming from Ripley.

Ripley residents made 1,130 reports in 2020, followed by South Ripley with 1,056 complaints and 870 reports in Redbank Plains.

A Department of Environment and Science spokesman said eleven fines worth a total of $119,379 have been issued since the taskforce was established.

He said 23 formal warnings had been issued, two Environmental Evaluations had been undertaken and one Environmental Protection Order has been issued which required one operator to better manager stockpiles to reduce fires.

Another operator was ordered to invest in “advanced odour management infrastructure” to achieve compliance with its EA.

Prosecution started with one operator in the Ipswich Magistrates Court in relation to odour and a process was also undertaken to tighten EA conditions for two composting operators in relation to processing odorous materials, the spokesman said.

“Under the Environmental Protection Act 1994, Penalty Infringement Notices can be issued with a maximum fine of $13,345 for a corporation,” he said.

“Courts can impose higher penalties under the act, depending on the offence.

“Fines and enforcement measures are not the only actions that can be taken.

“The (taskforce) also provides education to the regulated community about what they can do to remain compliant and reduce odours.

“This includes turning composting piles at appropriate times, not leaving incoming liquid-waste receival bays uncovered for a long period of time, ensuring that the company doesn’t accept more waste that they can handle, and not accepting highly odorous wastes.”

The spokesman said there are currently two odour monitors and six wind stations in Ipswich.

One station set up in Swanbank in 2007 stopped operating in 2009.

You can call the Pollution Hotline on 1300 130 372 to report an issue.

Read more stories by Lachlan McIvor here.

Originally published as Ipswich resident wants rates reduction for property due to awful odours coming from dumps