QUEANBEYAN Mayor Tim Overall has said Council is unable to use its knowledge of existing Mr Fluffy houses to protect potential new buyers from purchasing the toxic homes due to existing confidentiality agreements.
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Mayor Overall and Council's sustainability manager, Mike Thompson, made a presentation in Queanbeyan on Monday to the NSW Government committee administering the State Government's Inquiry into Loose Fill Asbestos Insulation.
Council's submission outlined its difficulty in securing meaningful action from both Federal and State governments over the last 25 years, including the fact that Queanbeyan Council is aware of just 15 properties (including a block of units) that contain the deadly asbestos, out of potentially 60 or more affected properties.
That fact prompted Greens committee member David Shoebridge to grill Cr Overall and Mr Thompson on why Council couldn't use that information to protect residents from buying those properties.
After hearing Council hadn't sought any legal advice regarding what its options were to use the register to protect future residents, or to qualify its own legal liability, Mr Shoebridge spoke out.
"I just find it extraordinary that you haven't: A, got legal advice on the risk to Council and B, sought to get proactive legal advice so that you can protect potentially a large class of future residents from being exposed to this deeply dangerous material. Can you explain why you haven't done that proactive legal advice to protect those future residents?"
Mr Thompson replied "I can't' explain that; I can explain why Council has the positon that it is has, and that's detailed in this submission."
"But you're a public authority with an obligation to do what you can to protect your residents," Mr Shoebridge said.
"And you've got this red-hot information about a public safety issue, and you don't do anything with it. How do you explain that?"
"I can't explain that, I'm sorry," Mr Thompson said.
However at a press conference following Council's submission, Mayor Overall angrily spoke out against what he said was years of Government inaction on the issue.
"Like the ACT Government, the NSW Government has to step in here. It has a state-wide obligation to put forward legislation and regulations that all Councils can abide by. Otherwise we're out on a limb," he said. "And we've been out on a limb on this issue for three decades now and it's time that it be resolved."
And Mayor Overall said Council had only been able to find out about the 15 properties it now knows to contain loose fill asbestos by offering free public checks with an in-built confidentiality clause to encourage residents to come forward.
"Under privacy and obligations of confidentiality, we don't have any flexibility," he said.
"Because of the financial impact on a property owner, the inspection processes that have been put together not only by Council but with the NSW Department of Health along with Workcover- they're voluntary.
"So it's up to the homeowner to come forward, and to encourage ... them to come forward, we've had to assure them of confidentiality to have their homes inspected."
The Mayor also confirmed Council would now be seeking legal advice regarding its loose fill asbestos register.