Shadow Ports Minister Colin de Grussa has criticised the Cook Labor Government for its lack of transparency and delaying tactics when asked about any planned improvements to address the ongoing iron ore dust issues at the Port of Geraldton.
“In October I raised questions in Parliament on why the dust suppression methods applied to the export of iron ore at the Port of Geraldton were not equivalent to those used at the Esperance Port for the past two decades” Mr de Grussa said.
“The Ports Minister, David Michael’s response to this basic question was instructive – he simply didn’t answer the question.”
When questioned in Parliament last week the Minister seemingly had no clue on whether there were any current capital improvements planned by the Mid West Ports Authority to resolve the ongoing dust issues at the port.
Mr de Grussa said that this should not have been a difficult task, given the questions I had already raised in October and iron ore dust being an ongoing issue at the port.
“In fact, I would have thought that dust mitigation would have been a critical component of the Port Maximisation Project (PmaxP) announced with much fanfare by the previous Ports Minister leading into the 2023/24 State Budget” Mr de Grussa said.
“In reality, I have a sneaking suspicion that there were no substantive dust mitigation works planned at the Geraldton Port, certainly not up to the standards that are currently in place at Esperance Port, and the new Ports Minister has been caught out” Mr de Grussa said.
“This is yet another shining example of the Cook Labor Government’s smoke and mirrors approach of making grandiose spending announcements aimed simply at grabbing headlines, that do nothing to address substantive issues that affect our reginal communities.’
