Asbestos: Six more sites named as contaminated as mulch crisis grows
Six fresh sites have been identified as being contaminated in Sydney’s growing asbestos crisis. It comes as students at one school remain in limbo as to when remediation works will be complete.
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A potentially dangerous form of asbestos has been found in mulch at a park in Sydney’s inner west, while five other sites have confirmed the presence of bonded asbestos as the city’s contaminated mulch crisis intensifies.
Friable asbestos and several samples for bonded asbestos in mulch at Bicentennial Park 1 in Glebe, which is part of the Glebe foreshore area.
The City of Sydney Council has advised the area of the parklands is fenced off.
The other sites containing bonded asbestos include North Rosebery Park, a private aged care facility in St Ives, an industrial area in Rouse Hill, a private property which is not publicly accessible and Mary Mackillop Catholic Parish in Oran Park.
All of the sites are secured or are in the process of being secured.
The EPA is conducting precautionary testing at two schools in close proximity to Mary Mackillop Catholic Parish.
“Mary Mackillop Catholic Parish is in close proximity to St Justin’s Catholic Parish Primary School and St Benedict’s Catholic College in Oran Park,” the EPA said in a statement on Tuesday.
“Mulch has only been identified on Parish property, but precautionary testing will be done at both schools.
“Precautionary testing will also be undertaken at four hospitals, including Westmead Hospital, Sydney Children’s Hospital, Hornsby Ku-ring-gai Hospital and Nepean Hospital, as well as two ambulance stations, in Tumut and Woy Woy. Impacted areas at these sites will be cordoned off.”
On Tuesday, the NSW Education Minister Prue Car said remediation at Liverpool West Public School, which has been riddled with asbestos-contaminated mulch, could take “a number of weeks.”
“We couldn’t remove the amount of mulch that needed to be removed. Because there was no soil it was used as fill which goes against what should be done,” she said.
“So it takes a number of weeks.”
More than 600 students moved to Gilyangarri Public School as specialists scramble to check whether the contamination has spread into the soil.
There are now a total of 47 positive sites. As of 6pm yesterday, 796 tests have returned negative results since January 10.
MORE SCHOOLS CONTAMINATED
Mulch testing at a Catholic parish primary school in Sydney’s southwest has returned a positive result for asbestos, making it the sixth school embroiled in the city’s contamination saga.
A letter sent home to parents of St Justin’s Catholic Primary School in Oran Park confirmed the result of the testing, which found bonded asbestos present in the St Mary MacKillop Parish Community Garden.
The school has contacted the NSW Environment Protection Agency, which confirmed existing safeguards – namely locking the garden and a nearby gate on the corner of Catherine Park Drive and Oran Park Drive – would allow the school to operate as normal.
The positive result brings the total number of contaminated sites across the state to 42.
It comes as Lord Mayor Clover Moore and her allies voted down a procedural motion brought by Labor Councillor Linda Scott to discuss the asbestos contamination crisis striking the city’s parks.
There was no other mention of asbestos on the agenda at Monday night’s City of Sydney meeting.
Councillor Yvonne Weldon subsequently tabled a request for an extraordinary meeting, signed by all five non-Clover Moore independent team members, to discuss the issue.
The matter will now be discussed in an urgent meeting within the next two weeks.
--Earlier on Monday a Catholic girls’ school in Sydney’s inner west, Domremy College in Five Dock, was added to the list. It also remained open to students, after isolating and cordoning off an area where bonded asbestos was detected amid the EPA’s ever-widening investigation.
An Aldi supermarket at Cobbitty, sports centre in Riverstone and a section of the shared pedestrian and bike path along the Parramatta Light Rail line at Telopea also tested positive, along with three private properties.
HAZMAT QUESTIONS
It comes as the Fire Brigade Employees Union raises questions over why it took more than a month for HAZMAT specialists from Fire Rescue NSW to be asked to join the EPA in testing sites suspected to have been contaminated.
“If (FRNSW) were approved earlier, the public would have a full picture of the extent of this problem,” state secretary Leighton Drury said.
Four of the six asbestos-positive schools have remained open, while St Luke’s Catholic College in Marsden Park decided to close its doors for the week.
Liverpool West Public School’s grounds will also remain closed this week, its students and teachers temporarily displaced to a neighbouring school while an extensive quantity of asbestos-contaminated recycled mulch is removed from their playground.
NEW SCHOOL
With hi-vis vests, meticulous traffic management and a big ‘welcome’ sign at the gate, staff at Gulyangarri Public School ushered more than 700 new students off shuttle buses and greeted disoriented parents on Monday morning.
Smiles were worn by teachers, students and their families, and the atmosphere was upbeat despite the circumstances. Four demountable classrooms and a demountable toilet block had been set-up for the newcomers, who also used 25 of the permanent buildings at Gulyangarri not yet in use by the school’s small first-year population.
LWPS mum Saray Tek was well-prepared, having done a “dry run” of the school drop-off over the weekend. Four-and-a-half year old son Joseph McAuley’s initial nerves quickly evaporated.
“As soon as he saw his friends he said ‘Mummy you can go now’,” she said.
The slick operation has set up the short-term amalgamation for success, but parents of new Kindergarten students are nevertheless eager to see their kids return to the Liverpool West Public School site.
The Kindies had spent only a week familiarising themselves with ‘big school’ when the school was shut down, after recycled mulch laid in December tested positive to asbestos.
Mum Sabina Shahi said while “all went well” on Monday, the new arrangements proved “challenging” and “confusing” for her young son Supa.
“We were worried about the mulch and asbestos … kids are very vulnerable, they did the right thing by moving the students,” she said.
However, “It was hard for my son and for myself, we had to change our whole schedule due to the school change. They provided transportation, but for me it’s a bit far away.”
Barsha Khadka also said while she appreciated the effort made by the school, the situation has been upsetting and left her son, Benish Chaulagain, distressed.
“It’s been an exhausting day for me, as well as for my kid,” she said.
“As soon as I arrived at the new school to pick up my son, he stated ‘I was sad, why are you late mum?’ although I was there at the right time.”
Liverpool West Public School Principal Lucy Martin said the past four days had involved a team effort to organise buses and expand the canteen as well as getting learning and play facilities in shape.
“There’s been a colossal amount of work behind the scenes to make the temporary transition as smooth as possible. It was so rewarding to see students entering the school gates this morning with smiles on their faces,” she said.
“There were also lovely touches to connect our students to their new temporary school. Our school leadership team and all our teachers created a welcome video for all students and parents so they’d feel more confident when they arrived.”
Education Minister Prue Car praised the “Herculean effort” by all parties to make the relocation happen.
“This is nothing short of a Herculean effort to accommodate all those children who have been displaced by the mulch contamination,” she said.
“I want to thank the principals of the two schools, the staff and the families for all coming together at such short notice.”
Three other Western Sydney schools are currently undergoing precautionary testing; Edmondson Park Public School, Trinity Catholic Primary School at Kemps Creek and Mount Annan Christian College.
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