Labor defeats bid to lift ‘veil of secrecy’ on Anglesea fix-up

LABOR has used its lower house numbers to maintain a “veil of secrecy“ on Alcoa’s proposed Anglesea coal mine and power station rehabilitation, according to the Greens.
The Liberals, Greens and Sex Party joined forces in the upper house on Wednesday to vote in favour of removing a Freedom of Information (FoI) exemption covering the rehabilitation process.
But Andrews Government MPs voted against the bill when it reached the lower house, later accusing the Greens of a “stunt“.
Alcoa plans to spend at least $55 million rehabilitating the site but environmentalists and residents are concerned about the mine area, fearing it could be left as a coal seam fire risk.
Alcoa will close the mine and power station at the end of the month after failing to sell the facility, which became redundant when the company closed its Pt Henry aluminium processing operations. The Anglesea closure will cost over 80 jobs.
The Greens said the defeated bill would have “removed Alcoa’s veil of secrecy, opening the company up to public scrutiny over rehabilitation of the Anglesea mine and power station site“.
Victorian Greens energy spokesperson Ellen Sandell said the lower house vote showed the Government cared “more about big coal companies than individuals or the environment”.
“This was an opportunity to make Alcoa accountable for the rehabilitation of this massive hole in the ground, which we recently learned also contains a tip full of asbestos removed from the power plant.
“Dan Andrews and his government made a grave error of judgement siding with Alcoa over the community … but this fight is only just beginning.”
Ms Sandell said the bill was the first to pass the upper house without government support.
The vote signalled Labor might be losing control of the upper house and put pressure on the Government to explain why it was “supporting coal over the community”, she said.
“It is extremely rare for any party to oppose a bill at the first reading stage.”
Environment Minister and Bellarine MP Lisa Neville accused the Greens of “yet another stunt“.
“Within our first 100 days we fulfilled our election commitment to reopen the Hazelwood mine fire inquiry, which includes matters relating to the Anglesea coal mine and generator. Unlike the Greens, we have every confidence that the inquiry board, led by the Hon Bernard Teague, will thoroughly scrutinise all documents and provide a detailed assessment of Alcoa’s fire management and rehabilitation plans at Anglesea.
“My department have started consultation with the community about the site and Point Henry.“
Alcoa denied that details of the rehabilitation were “secret“.
A spokesperson for the company said information about the work was available on the company’s website.