THE Australian Workers’ Union believe a parliamentary inquiry, similar to the recently completed Fiskville investigation, should be conducted into the former Lands Department workers who were exposed to dangerous chemicals.
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An independent inquiry held into the matter has already found the dangerous chemicals could be linked to cancer.
The Courier first revealed concerns surrounding the region's former Lands Department spray programs and practices back in September 2014, and has pushed strongly for further action by government ever since, with the Toxic Legacy campaign.
The inquiry found employees were using more than double today’s standard tolerable intake of the dangerous chemicals.
The inquiry resulted in free medical screening for former Lands Department workers.
The AWU Victorian branch secretary Ben Davis said the previous inquiry left more unanswered questions in regards to health concerns for the former Lands Department workers.
“It was limited in the chemicals it looked at,” he said. “It is what we don’t know about the health impacts that these people suffered that prompts us to say we need to have a fully fledged public inquiry.”
While Mr Davis welcomed the work the current Victorian government had done on the matter, he said it did not go far enough.
He said the AWU had been contacted by numerous ex Lands Department staff who raised concerns surrounding chemical usage.
“The only way to get those answers is via a public inquiry,” he said.
“There is still a lot we don’t know about the impact these chemicals have on people’s health, we owe it those workers to get those answers.”
In Friday’s edition of The Courier, former Lands Department workers described the response to the previous inquiry so far as turning into a “farce”.
Those workers were dismayed at the medical screening taking place over the phone from Queensland, as well as the lack of government initiative to contact colleagues to inform them of the process.