Print PageThe NSW government says no hazardous radioactive material will be interred at the Kemps Creek waste facility in western Sydney, and has accused Labor of lying over the issue.
Federal Labor MP Chris Bowen has raised concerns about plans to clean up blocks of land at Hunters Hill, in northwest Sydney, on which a uranium ore processing plant previously stood.
Mr Bowen, the science and research minister, said moving potentially hazardous material from the site to the Kemps Creek waste facility - which lies within his electorate - could endanger the health of local residents.
NSW Premier Barry O'Farrell confirmed on Friday that soil from the Hunters Hill site would be taken to the Kemps Creek facility, but said that any hazardous material uncovered would be sent to a separate location.
"What we said was no radioactive waste would go to Kemps Creek, it would go to the facility established by the former Labor government to deal with radioactive waste ... at Lidcombe," Mr O'Farrell told reporters in Sydney.
Mr O'Farrell said it was hypocritical for Labor to criticise the policy since it was the previous NSW Labor government that had initially decided to send the Hunters Hill waste "whatever it was" to Kemps Creek.
He slammed Mr Bowen for visiting the Kemps Creek site to protest the dumping of the Hunters Hill waste, saying it was part of "another Labor lie."
The NSW government released a statement on Friday, saying that "the waste planned to go to Kemps Creek facility poses no greater risk than any other restricted waste that's been deposited there for many years".
However Mr Bowen told Fairfax Radio the plan put the health of locals at risk.
"There have been cancer clusters detected at Hunters Hill," he said.
"There have been all sorts of links made between radioactive waste and very, very poor health outcomes."
A community rally against the move to dump contaminated soil at Kemps Creek will be held on February 18, a spokesman for Mr Bowen told AAP.
