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Residents of Morwell, Victoria, say they are still waiting for their health concerns to be addressed, seven months after the Hazelwood coalmine fire, as a report into the fire is delivered.
Community group Voices of the Valley says there has been no recognition of the adverse health effects of the 45-day blaze that cloaked Morwell in smoke which included carcinogenic particulate matter.
The group has called for the government and opposition to commit to recommendations from the Hazelwood inquiry, with health being their number one priority.
“We’re seven months from the fire and we haven’t seen any health checks done, no extra doctors brought in and no information about the health effects,” Voices of the Valley president Wendy Farmer told reporters.
“We know there are people out there that have never got better. We know of babies that have had respiratory problems.”
On Friday the chair of the inquiry, Bernard Teague, handed over the 400-page report. It is expected to be tabled in parliament on Tuesday.
Over four weeks of hearings, the inquiry was told the mine operators were not properly prepared, coordination with emergency services was poor and community members were exposed to high levels of cancer-causing particles. Vulnerable Morwell residents were not told to consider leaving the town next to the Hazelwood fire until more than two weeks after the blaze started on 9 February.
In a co-signed submission, dozens of residents asked that the health effects of the fire be rigorously investigated, and called for a separate public inquiry into the long-term health impact.
The deputy premier, Peter Ryan, said the government would respond to the report as soon as it could.
The inquiry also heard the 2014 fire might not have occurred if the risk assessment had been done and proper measures put in place. Mine operator GDF Suez was accused of ignoring a report that followed a 2008 fire recommending a risk assessment of the non-operation areas of the mine. The company’s lawyer said there were no legal obligations to implement the recommendations and the 2008 fire was completely different from the 2014 fire.
The board was also asked to make recommendations for the government and council to work to minimise the risk of embers from external fires getting into the open-cut mines.
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