Latrobe Valley residents demand new investigation

Residents of Victoria’s Latrobe Valley are calling for the Hazelwood Coal Mine Fire Enquiry to be reopened in light of new evidence of a spike in deaths in the area. Local activists presented a citizens health report to the state government on 17 September.

Speaking on the steps of parliament, Voices of Valley spokesperson Wendy Farmer said: “The Latrobe Valley has gone through a horrible disaster. It started on the 9th of February – we had a coal fire that burnt for 45 days.

“The government stood up and said, it’s okay, the air is okay, you can still breathe it. It won’t hurt you. At the time we saw people getting really sick, we saw animals getting really sick and we wondered what was happening … we also started watching the local death notices in the Latrobe Valley Express – we noticed that people were dying suddenly.

“So we decided to do our own investigations to see what was happening. We got the last six months of the Latrobe Valley Express … and noticed a huge increase in deaths – a lot of the people were quite young – 45, 50s, early 60s – too young to die. So we continued to investigate. We asked Births, Deaths and Marriages for their data. It took them four months to come back with the data that we needed. Unfortunately, they gave us the data two days after the enquiry had handed down its report. “We now have a government denying that anything has happened in the valley. But do we believe them? No. Why don’t we believe them? Because they told us right from the start that the air was safe to breathe, that we wouldn’t get sick. People in the Latrobe Valley are still sick. People in the Latrobe Valley are dying. Why? Because we were lied to.”

Peter Marshall, secretary of the firefighters’ union (UFU), said there remain unanswered questions about the response to the Hazelwood fire. “There has not been an explanation from the state government or the fire services as to why, when the level [for safe exposure to carbon monoxide] of 30 parts per million – the industry standard – was reached, they didn’t notify the community.

“Firefighters were told to change the level to 70 parts per million … Why were firefighters directed not to inform the community of their concerns?

“In light of this new information … the coroner should look at this issue”, he said. “It’s a matter of public interest, and this community has the right – not only that, they deserve – to get to the truth.”