Fed up Brimbank residents have called on the state government to rid Brimbank Park of asbestos.
Red tape has been blamed for inaction to remove the asbestos, eight months after it was discovered at the park’s western entrance.
“Is it more important to handball this thing between agencies or are human lives more important?” Keilor resident Aina Vonier said.
“It’s beside a walking track where people go. Human lives are at risk.”
Ms Vonier, a regular park cyclist, said the lack of response was “typical” of government agencies.
“It’s absolutely typical. It’s not right, they don’t care.
“Nobody is responsible; they just handball it and it goes nowhere.”
Friends of Kororoit Creek president Jessica Gerger hoped works would begin soon.
“I hope measures are taken to swiftly assess the amount of asbestos and prioritise a clean-up,” she said.
“It’s a shame that industries of the past have left such a poisonous legacy in the west.”
Greens Western Metropolitan MP Colleen Hartland raised the issue in State Parliament last Wednesday, asking Environment and Climate Change Minister Lily D’Ambrosio when remediation might occur.
“While we support Parks Victoria consulting with the Indigenous community, it’s ridiculous that eight months down the track we haven’t seen any action,” Ms Hartland said.
Between three and five hectares of land between Green Gully Road and Kulin Wetlands has been fenced off since February after scattered fragments were identified as “lower risk” broken asbestos cement sheeting.
The asbestos was discovered in December last year on both sides of the Taylors Creek access trail.
When Star Weekly visited Brimbank Park last week there was no signage indicating an asbestos risk for walkers entering the park from Green Gully Road.
The fencing surrounding the asbestos fragments can be easily stepped around.
Parks Victoria Melbourne region executive director Chris Hardman told Star Weekly in June that a site assessment “to determine the extent of the material to be removed” had been held up because of the Indigenous significance of the area.
At the time, Parks Victoria (PV) said it had consulted with Wurundjeri people about the presence of “artefacts or culturally sensitive material” and no site works would begin until a permit was approved.
PV said in June that weekly air monitoring of the area had found no airborne fibre readings.
It has not responded to inquiries for an update over the past fortnight.
