Deadly: Tim Gooden with, from clockwise above, a broken asbestos pipe on the beach at Bells, dumped asbestos debris under a bush in the reserve and another section of exposed and damaged pipe on a cliff face.
ERIN PEARSON
BY ERIN PEARSON
Broken asbestos pipes are threatening public safety at Bells Beach, a union leader has warned.
Geelong Trades and Labor Council secretary Tim Gooden said authorities could force closure of the international icon if Surf Coast Shire failed to take immediate action on the two exposed pipes.
Mr Gooden called the pipes a “serious threat” to anyone using Bells Beach.
“It’s asbestos and what should happen now is the areas must be immediately barricaded with a sign warning people not to touch it,” he said.
“Anyone who sits on it or touches it will be exposed to asbestos. Absolutely it’s a risk.”
Mr Gooden believed the shire, which manages the Bells surfing reserve, had been aware for “some time” the pipes were exposed.
“This hasn’t gone unreported because I know the locals have reported it – they’ve told me – and someone’s written remove on one of the pipes, which clearly isn’t graffiti.”
Mr Gooden said he suspected the shire was leaving the pipes until it had secured federal funding for a master plan to redevelop the reserve.
“It’s expensive to remove asbestos…but this is something that can’t wait,” he said.
“If it was just a piece of pipe that could be buried so it could not be touched it would be different but the pipe at the base of the Bells stairs is susceptible to stormwater and anything covering it will just wash away, like it already has.”
The asbestos warning comes as Bells prepares to host its 50th annual international surfing titles at Easter.
Parks Victoria closed Lara’s You Yangs last month after heavy rain exposed asbestos pipes. Parks Victoria said it expected to start reopening the park from Easter.
Chief ranger Siobhan Rogan said coordinating asbestos removal and recovery work was “complicated”.
The works had to satisfy various safety and legal requirements as well as EPA conditions before beginning, she said.
Former Bells Beach Advisory Committee members reported concerns about the asbestos pipes to the shire around the middle of last year.
Discarded pipe material has since been discovered in scrub near the reserve’s toilet block.
Barrister and former advisory committee member Andrew Dickenson said the shire had a duty of care to warn the public of the asbestos risk.
A picket had been in place around the exposed pipe last year but disappeared in December, he said.
Asbestos can cause deadly lung cancer and other illnesses.
Surf Coast Shire refuses to answer questions from the Independent.
