PORT Stephens mayor Bruce MacKenzie’s family company has not entered a plea after a first appearance in the NSW Land and Environment Court on a charge of using its sand quarry as a waste dump.
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The Environment Protection Authority told a brief court hearing on Friday that the company wanted the prosecution to complete its evidence before entering a plea.
The EPA launched proceedings against Grafil Pty Ltd, trading as Macka’s Sand and Soil at Salt Ash, and Mr MacKenzie’s son, Robert, on May 1 after action in 2013 when stockpiles of waste up to eight metres high, 40 metres wide and 100 metres long were found near and in waterways on the property.
The EPA alleges another 360 tonnes of waste was subsequently dumped, including 10 tonnes of waste containing asbestos, in breach of orders in 2013.
Solicitor Rob Mallik for Grafil and Robert MacKenzie said the defendants were “laboriously going through” volumes of evidence in the “large, complex matter” to see “what the prosecution says we’re supposed to have done”.
