As time passes, the reasons the public might have for trusting chemical company Orica and the NSW environment minister Robyn Parker are evaporating.
On the night of August 8, highly toxic hexavalent chromium leaked from Orica鈥檚 Kooragang Island plant and blew over the Newcastle suburb of Stockton.
Orica notified the NSW environment department at 10.45am the next morning. Orica representatives began doorknocking residents in Stockton on August 10. Parker says she was not told of the accident until that night.
Stockton residents were not officially notified of the accident until August 11.
Theresidents, angered at the company and the government鈥檚 response, have called for the an 鈥渋ndependent monitoring system鈥 for the plant, the September 14 Newcastle Star.
The September 14 Newcastle Herald the company was also 鈥渂attling to contain the environmental effects of decades of arsenic sludge dumping on its Kooragang Island site鈥.
The arsenic is leaking though the groundwater into the Hunter River. The Herald uncovered the reports of the remediation attempts.
Newcastle City Greens councillor Michael Osborne told the Herald the council not been informed of Orica鈥檚 arsenic remediation efforts previously. 鈥淚 have no confidence in Orica鈥檚 processes whatsoever,鈥 he said.
On September 15, the Herald published an opinion piece by Parker, which defended her response to the Orica spill.
Parker claimed that since the leak there had been a 鈥済reat deal of misinformation in the public arena鈥.
She claimed Orica鈥檚 delay in notifying the public of the August accident was 鈥渢otally unacceptable鈥, saying Orica should have 鈥渄one as they were supposed to and picked up the phone to Hazmat immediately鈥.
Yet she also said 鈥渃urrent procedures were responsible for the delay鈥.
She said there was a need to 鈥渃hange inadequate laws鈥 to 鈥渆nsure the regulator is doing its job鈥. However, she claimed that when she was notified 鈥渁ll authorities were doing their job, as they always had.鈥