YESTERDAY’S announcement by the Environment Protection Authority (EPA) that a new manager has been appointed at its Geelong office to cover the south-west region has a hollow ring when you consider the territory he will have to cover.
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Not only are the rural municipalities between Geelong and the South Australian border in his territory, but Greater Geelong as well.
Of course there are other administrative staff on deck to help out, but it’s a big territory with many communities and key industries including Portland Aluminium, Iluka mineral sands at Hamilton, Midfield Meat at Warrnambool, the ALC abattoir at Colac, Port Campbell gas plant and dairy factories at Dennington, Allansford, Koroit, Camperdown and Cobden.
According to the authority’s most recent annual report only 3 per cent of its total 327 employees were based at each of its regional offices, including Geelong.
Earlier this month three Warrnambool City councillors expressed concern about the lack of a locally-based EPA officer to investigate complaints and highlighted the trend for community members to be advised by the authority to contact councils for initial investigation of complaints.
The authority later acknowledged it partnered councils, the community, government agencies and local authorities to ensure fast response to incident reports.
“EPA’s strategic focus ensures more time is spent preventing, rather than responding to, critical environmental issues,” the authority told The Standard.
This strategy may fit in with a regime where cost-cutting and efficiency is the bottom line, but in an expanding city like Warrnambool and a region which produces a quarter of Australia’s milk output, residents should be able to expect a more localised service from the state’s environmental watchdog.
As politicians scramble for vote-catching policies, maybe this issue should be pushed higher on the agenda. The EPA posted a profit of $81.9 million last financial year, so it’s hardly strapped for cash to allocate an officer to Warrnambool or another south-west centre rather than have inspectors drive all the way from Geelong.