PORT Stephens mayor Bruce MacKenzie’s family company faces a maximum $1 million penalty after it was charged with using Macka’s Sand and Soil at Salt Ash as an unlawful waste dump.
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Cr MacKenzie and son Robert also face possible special executive liability as directors of Grafil Pty Ltd, trading as Macka’s.
The NSW Environment Protection Authority launched criminal proceedings against Grafil in the Land and Environment Court on May 1 after investigations of alleged dumping from 2013.
In November the EPA confirmed an on-going criminal investigation of operations at Macka’s Sand dating from May 2013 when stockpiles of waste up to eight metres high, 40 metres wide and 100 metres long were found near and in waterways.
The EPA initiated the Land and Environment Court action after investigations in October last year found an additional 360 tonnes of waste at the Salt Ash site, in breach of orders made in 2013, with 10 tonnes found to contain asbestos.
A 2013 clean-up notice that was still in place prevented any further waste from being accepted at the Macka’s premises.
The EPA initiated the Land and Environment Court action on May 1, a day before announcing it had fined Grafil and Macka’s Sand $15,000 for land pollution by asbestos waste.
It charged the company with using the Salt Ash site as a waste facility without lawful authority.
In media reports in May Cr MacKenzie denied the EPA’s allegation that 360 tonnes of demolition waste had been dumped on the site between May 2013 and October 2015.
“We put four or five tonnes of bricks and mortar there and someone else has dumped the asbestos,” he said.
Bruce and Robert MacKenzie did not respond to requests for comment on Wednesday.
In a letter on May 26 to Port Stephens MP Kate Washington, Environment Minister Mark Speakman noted the EPA had “instigated criminal proceedings against Grafil in the Land and Environment Court”.
Under the NSW Government’s newly-introduced risk-based licensing system the company also faced higher licence fees and additional compliance measures which are “used as a lever to encourage better environmental performance”, Mr Speakman said.
In a letter to Local Government Minister Paul Toole on May 4 Ms Washington asked that Cr MacKenzie be removed or suspended from the mayor’s position, after questioning whether he had breached the Office of Local Government’s Standards of Conduct for Council Officials.
Ms Washington noted the EPA action in 2013 and $15,000 fine over Macka’s Sand, and a Department of Planning audit that found Macka’s Sand was the only audited quarry to record high-risk non-compliance with its approval conditions.
The matter returns to court in late June.
