No progress months after rushed Roberts St demo

Back on 1 April 2008, I received an email from a director at the Office of Housing regarding my asbestos concerns in the demolition of the 47-unit derelict public housing estate at Roberts Street, Northcote. Given WorkSafe approval, he said, 'there is no need to further delay the work as the sooner we start the sooner tenants can be housed and I am sure you would support this.'

Indeed I very much support the timely housing of public tenants, but given that five months later the site is still lying vacant - the demolition having been completed in April - the community is entitled to ask just what was the rush to demolish the contaminated estate given valid residents' concerns about the management of asbestos in the process?

Readers of this blog will recall that just days before asbestos removal started on a day of extreme winds in Melbourne (Wednesday 2 April), the Office of Housing and Northcote MP, Fiona Richardson, were pressured to hold the only public meeting on the issue in the face of a raft of unanswered questions that were to remain inadequately addressed when the works started.

With the land now lying vacant for months despite a 40,000-strong public housing waiting list, it seems the real rush was to kill the asbestos issue. Gone from Housing's redevelopment site is the asbestos audit, and indeed any mention of asbestos on the site. They're pretty good at cleaning up public interest information. It's almost as if the issue never existed, but you can still read all about it here.

Update on WorkSafe response

It's been a while since I wrote an update on the Roberts Street issue, so, with the flats now well and truly gone, it's high time I reported the outcome of my attempts to get useful information out of WorkSafe about asbestos inspections during the demolition.

The last time we left our trusty workplace safety watchdog (14 May), I had received a call from Executive Director, John Merritt, and was unusually hopeful of some answers. A bit later that day, I received a call from a senior officer at the local WorkSafe office, whose statements, in my view, raised more questions than they answered. I perhaps somewhat impolitely instructed him over the phone to get back to me with some answers, and fired off another email to Merritt detailing the shortcomings of the response so far.

The following day (15 May) I received a string of bullet points from our safety guardian that...failed to answer the central questions about this issue. Merritt's response varied from that received over the phone a day earlier from the local office regarding the nature of the works undertaken on 2 April and the time inspectors were on-site. It should also be mentioned there were a number of differences between the account by the local office on 14 May and the account it gave on 2 April, the day asbestos removal works began at the Roberts Street Northcote site. Anyhow, I suppose we are to take Merritt's response as the official line.

That being the case, Merritt states in his 15 May email that no external works took place on 2 April, and that the works that did proceed took place inside, in 'confined areas'. These last words were a new addition to the WorkSafe account, and presumably put there to counter the unseemly possibility that 'inside' meant inside the units at Roberts Street that had broken windows or missing window frames and that were therefore potentially open to the extreme wind conditions on the day.

There was no mention in Merritt's email of what was meant by 'confined' and what checks were made to ensure that no work was done inside the units open to the outside.

Merritt also states in the email that the inspectors, in the course of their inspection on 2 April, discussed procedures for removing asbestos in 'adverse weather conditions', and also discussed the 'inclement' conditions themselves. Judge for yourself whether this answers the central question, asked time and time again, as to whether WorkSafe advised or directed that works finish early that day (as two accounts suggest they did) due to the weather conditions - namely, extreme winds that left thousands without power across Melbourne.

What WorkSafe's response really highlights is that they are unwilling to meaningfully answer hard questions where it involves the actions of a government department, and the potential for political embarrassment of a government that has touted exemplary asbestos safety in a major public housing redevelopment. It would be a very bad look indeed if WorkSafe publicly stated that asbestos removal had proceeded on a day when weather conditions argued against it, even if, as WorkSafe has stated, internal removal works under the prevailing conditions were permitted under the asbestos regulations.

A few hard questions and WorkSafe becomes so tangle-footed they're lucky they're not up on a building scaffold. And what does this show about the WorkSafe ads Tim Holding cites when defending the Victorian Labor Government's excessive advertising spend? They're a rather black joke - propaganda about public safety is not the same as accountable and transparent action to protect it.

WorkSafe silent after radio challenge

A couple of weeks ago (30 April), I happened to catch WorkSafe Executive Director, John Merritt, talking about workplace safety on Radio National's Australia Talks program. As WorkSafe had failed to respond to questions I raised with them about video footage of an asbestos-contaminated Roberts Street Northcote demolition site, I thought I'd challenge John on air about how disclosure by regulators - or in this case, non-disclosure - might contribute to creating a culture of safety in the workplace.

As an example, I asked John whether it should take two calls and six emails to WorkSafe to get a response on an asbestos issue. He said that it shouldn't, and claimed WorkSafe had been corresponding with me on the matter. I pointed out that I had received no response on the video footage, including to emails I had sent to him personally. He said he was 'happy to take it offline' and I left my details with the program - not, I must say, with any high hopes for any answers. Guess what? I was right. Complete silence has been the only response from WorkSafe following my on-air radio challenge.

If you go to the page for the Australia Talks workplace safety program, about two-thirds of the way through the audio you can hear for yourself my questions and John's response, including his happiness to take the issue offline. You can also read my post in the guestbook. Also online, however inconvenient for WorkSafe, are links to the Roberts Street asbestos coverage on my blog from Holding Redlich's OHS magazine, as well as the OHS magazine of Trades Hall, SafetyNet (see under 'Asbestos News').

For more background on the specific questions arising from the video footage, see this earlier post.

So, are we going to get a response, John? You'll know about this post, because I'll be sending it straight to your inbox, as well as to the WorkSafe information email address. Please feel free to leave a comment. Maybe you can explain the lack of a response by your organisation, or even answer the questions I've asked about the video footage.

Update: Early this morning (Wednesday 14 May) I received a phone call from WorkSafe Executive Director, John Merritt, and again put forward my case for a response from the safety watchdog on asbestos removal works at Roberts Street Northcote on Wednesday 2 April. It is the first response of any kind from WorkSafe following my referral of video footage taken on the day, and I hope it will lead to some answers. Watch this space.

The Office of Saying Nothing

That's my proposed name-change for the Office of Housing following the news on its Roberts Street redevelopment website today that demolition works proper began...today. That's right, the buildings are now being knocked down with zero days' notice from the Housing website.

To this our bureaucratic champion of public disclosure added the late-breaking 'news' that asbestos removal concluded... Tuesday last week (8 April), with air-monitoring supposedly showing we have nothing to worry about – despite the strong likelihood that official results will never be released, and that we won't be told what sampling arrangements were in place.

Nor, it seems, can we expect that the results of the further testing recommended by Housing's own audit will be made available any time soon.

In fact, Housing would not even respond to an email to redevelopment.robertsstreet@dhs.vic.gov.au asking them who is the official keeper of air-monitoring and testing results, so that those seeking the information through freedom of information laws might know who to ask without being given the bureaucratic run-around.

Instead, the Office of Housing has devoted itself to saying as little as possible at the last possible moment. Here's a snapshot of the update published today, and here's a snapshot from Google showing the last previous update. It shows definitively that 8 April was the last time the site was updated, at which stage there was no mention of the completion of asbestos removal on that very day, nor of the start of demolition being scheduled for today. The inescapable conclusion is that these useful snippets were unequivocally added only today – what a great effort!

If the Office of Housing wins the gold medal in keeping the lid on public interest information, then with them on the podium is WorkSafe. The so-called safety watchdog – seemingly so responsive until the hard questions began to be asked – still hasn't come clean on any directions it gave on site on Wednesday 2 April, a day of record winds, and also a day on which Housing was happy to have asbestos removal works proceed.

As noted previously, we've had the line that the works were undertaken inside, but WorkSafe still hasn't answered questions about the steps it took to ensure that 'inside' didn't mean inside any of the units with broken windows or no window frames at all. That some of the units were clearly in this condition is shown in YouTube video I know WorkSafe has viewed, and yet it doesn't think we deserve a response. A senior officer of WorkSafe's Preston office admitted on the phone on 2 April that asbestos removal works finished early on that day, even that it was likely because of the wind. Did WorkSafe direct or advise that works finish early? If so, what of Housing's decision to even start?

The only thing saving the Office of Housing from major embarrassment on this project is the lack of media willing to devote the resources to look into it. Our local media – with the exception of the public-interest-oriented Radio 3CR – have shown themselves lacking in this regard, while the larger media have many issues pressing for attention.

That's not to say that what gets media coverage equates with what needs it in the public interest, and therein lies the problem. Until that equation becomes more balanced, bureaucracies like Housing will ignore issues on which they feel immune from media exposure. That is to say, they will ignore you – even when it comes to valid concerns over asbestos in a 47-unit public housing redevelopment.

WorkSafe yet to respond on asbestos video

WorkSafe, a division of the Victorian WorkCover Authority, is yet to respond to questions asked last week surrounding film of asbestos workers on a public housing redevelopment site on Wednesday 2 April, a day of extreme winds in Melbourne.

On that day, asbestos removal began at the derelict Roberts Street Northcote estate, with workers filmed on-site in full protective gear, including half-face respirators.

Following a report to WorkSafe's advisory line at about 9.30am, advice received from WorkSafe late in the afternoon indicated that a morning inspection sometime after the filming found that works were proceeding 'in accordance with regulations'. Worksafe also advised that regulations permitted asbestos removal inside on such days. Works did, however, finish around midday (earlier, according to one resident), with the watchdog saying this was likely because of the wind.

The as-yet-unanswered questions arise because the film of workers on-site on 2 April taken together with an earlier film of the estate cast doubt on whether asbestos removal inside actually meant inside units with smashed windows and, in at least one case, no window frame at all. What WorkSafe has so far failed to answer is whether any asbestos removal work on 2 April took place in units open to the outside extreme wind conditions in this way. Was this question even asked on the morning of its own inspection? Did it in fact order or advise that the works be stopped because of the wind?

Queries about the film were sent to a number of senior WorkSafe officers, including WorkSafe Executive Director, John Merritt. A written response was requested, given that WorkSafe was clearly aware of community concerns about asbestos safety with this project because it had attended a public meeting on 28 March in the adjacent park.

Since the minister for housing, Richard Wynne, the Office of Housing, and Northcote MP Fiona Richardson have all been touting the asbestos safety measures for the project, it is beholden on WorkSafe to hold the government to account and prove it is not a toothless tiger when it comes to asbestos safety. It should answer the questions posed by the two videos, and come clean about what questions were asked and what action was taken during its inspection on Wednesday 2 April at Roberts Street Northcote.

The films about asbestos at the Roberts Street estate are available at:

http://www.youtube.com/lewinhill

Roberts Street web 'updates' way too late

The Office of Housing continued its retrospective website 'updates' tonight (8 April) by telling us for the first time online that asbestos removal works began on the Roberts Street Northcote public housing estate on Wednesday 2 April (a day of horrendous winds, as many people will recall, but then the works were said to be inside – more follow-up on that very soon).

Well, to set the record straight, here's a PDF of what the Roberts Street redevelopment website looked like only yesterday morning. This shows that, at that stage, the website had last been updated on 2 April, and was still advising on 7 April – five days after the actual start of asbestos removal – that the works had been delayed and a start date would be advised.

Sorry guys, but you can't inform people in advance retrospectively – especially when your public disclosure is so generally poor and people relied on your website for information they needed to have before the works began. I have another PDF showing the site just this morning in a similar state of outdatedness, and will upload that soon.

Housing continues its slack public disclosure

You wouldn't know from the Office of Housing's Roberts Street website that asbestos removal works started on the site yesterday. As of about 6.00pm tonight, the site still showed that works had been delayed, even though they'd updated the site yesterday to put the control plan up. The bureaucrats may just be slow, but for community members who have only recently become aware of the issue, a Google search will deliver the site as the top search result and they will consequently be misled about what's going on in their local neighbourhood.

Slow web updates aside, what you also can't expect from the Office of Housing, housing minister, Richard Wynne, and Northcote MP Fiona Richardson is any kind of explanation about why they directed or were prepared to allow works to proceed on such a windy day. I have sent WorkSafe a link to my video taken in yesterday's extreme conditions and have requested their response to the issues I believe it raises. At the very least, the video provides quite reasonable grounds for concern and valid questions in the public interest.

Add to that the start of the works just days after the government's only public meeting on asbestos safety in the project, the lack of any commitment to release the results of further testing, let alone the results of air monitoring (including for yesterday), and you can clearly see that the poor public disclosure on this project results in as few people as possible becoming fully informed about what is going on.

The good news is that the YouTube videos made of the site are reaching a few people courtesy of this blog (55 views for the first video and 13 for the second as of this writing). To see an update on viewer numbers, have a look at my YouTube video profile page Viewers who happen to find the videos independently at YouTube are also directed to further information on this site and to my email to ensure they have the full details, can ask questions, or leave comments – whether they agree with me or not. How long will it take Housing to get its far better resourced website up-to-date?

As usual, questions, comments and debate are most welcome.

Roberts Street asbestos removal on film

As promised, here's a short YouTube video of asbestos-related activities at the Roberts Street Northcote public housing estate covering from Monday to yesterday morning. I speak to the workers from outside the safety cordon towards the end of the clip.

To play the video, hit the triangular button at the bottom of the embedded video, or view it directly at the YouTube site.

To read about my dealings with the Office of Housing, WorkSafe et al during the day, please read the previous post, 'WorkSafe visits a very windy Roberts Street'.

Comments and email are most welcome.

WorkSafe visits a very windy Roberts Street

Having reported the asbestos works at Roberts Street in today's windy conditions to WorkSafe around 9.30am this morning, as 4.00pm approached I decided to follow up, given there had been no phone response on the mobile number I left with them.

Instead of again calling the advisory line, I decided to call Steve Peters, a senior WorkSafe officer from the Preston office who had attended last Friday's public meeting and provided useful information.

Steve said a WorkSafe inspector had attended the site later this morning following my visit to the site between 8.45 and 9.15am. He advised that, while WorkSafe was bound by privacy provisions, and the inspection was between WorkSafe and the company, the inspector had found works proceeding in accordance with regulations. He added that works stopped at lunch and agreed this was likely because of the wind. Steve further advised that asbestos removal proceeding inside would not be a problem on a windy day.

Soon I will post YouTube footage taken on-site over three days, including the start of works today (the likely start advised by workers yesterday did not pan out, for whatever reason). The footage raises questions worthy of further investigation in that hammering noises on the footage appear loud enough to be external to the flats, window frames (and quite possibly doors) are missing on some units, and workmen in full protective gear were filmed with a ladder on one of the upper-level walkways visible from the High Street frontage.

While the time of WorkSafe's visit has not been confirmed, it seems to me that between my visit and theirs, there was plenty of scope for works to proceed that were quite arguably inappropriate given the conditions. The point I made to Steve in our discussion this afternoon was that, on its face, the circumstance of asbestos removal proceeding on a day of very high winds was at the very least concerning.

I hope the Office of Housing, in particular, appreciates this perspective – especially given the demonstrable lack of disclosure about asbestos on the site and the closeness of the start of the works to its only public meeting on the issue last Friday.

The 6.10pm response from Housing's Ed David to the 10.56am email to Steve on which Ed was copied was simply: 'Noted. WorkSafe have been in discussion with us. It is under control.' In fairness, I had earlier alerted Ed by phone and he had said an inspector would be sent out there. However, one is justified in asking what is under control? – hopefully it's the asbestos management on site. Of course, so-called 'privacy' means we are unlikely to find out what actually took place on-site, let alone in Housing's 'discussion' with WorkSafe.

Needless to say, there has as yet been no response from Richardson and Wynne on this issue, despite contact with their offices this morning by phone and email – unsurprising, really.

Finally, this post was significantly delayed by my phone service being interrupted this afternoon. What can I say? It was just too windy.

Asbestos workers at Roberts St today

Asbestos removal at the Roberts Street Northcote public housing estate was proceeding this morning despite windy conditions on a day of predicted very high winds in Melbourne.

Men in protective asbestos masks and clothing were clearly visible from the High Street frontage of the estate, and were spoken to on film about proceeding with the works given the conditions.

Ed David, Director of Asset Management and Property Services with the Office of Housing (9096 5331), advised by phone that the works were taking place inside the flats, but the sounds of levering and hammering were clearly audible, and the photo clearly shows a ladder set up on the front balcony (facing High Street).

An asbestos dust hazard tape was also clearly visible around the site, providing a very narrow margin particularly on the High Street frontage, where pedestrians were walking.

WorkSafe and the Office of Housing were this morning both notified of the works starting, but Housing, which is administering the works, had earlier been advised by a resident email of the inappropriateness of starting works today given the predicted high winds.

An asbestos control plan for the site, promised to be published online at 8.00am this morning, was published hours after the commencement of the works, with the site noting the plan had been submitted to WorkSafe Victoria. Interestingly, the control plan was signed on 20 March, more than a week before the Office of Housing advised at a public meeting that it could not yet be made available because it was not yet in its 'final form'.

A quick look at the document reveals that it is a tick-the-box affair of only three pages – hardly the anticipated reassurance that asbestos issues identified in the audit are being adequately addressed.

As noted in previous posts, there is widespread public concern that these works are proceeding before valid community concerns about asbestos have been answered.

The start of the works follows the required notification to WorkSafe on Friday, and a public meeting in the neighbouring park convened by the Office of Housing and Northcote MP Fiona Richardson (9481 5777) at 6.00pm the same day. The works follow by only days what was the first government public meeting on this issue, despite the fact that the presence of asbestos has been known since at least mid-October 2007, when Housing had an asbestos audit performed.

Richardson and housing minister Richard Wynne (9096 7722) have also been notified by phone and email that the works are taking place today in windy conditions, and have been asked to pursue the matter.

The circumstances observed today at Roberts Street are concerning and at the very least call for some prompt answers from the relevant authorities. Responses received from Richardson, Wynne, WorkSafe and the Office of Housing will be reported here.

Comtempt for community concerns over asbestos

This morning shortly after 8.00am I encountered (and filmed) asbestos workers at the Roberts Street estate in Northcote. On questioning, they said asbestos removal works would likely proceed today. A 1 April start is consistent with advice provided by WorkSafe, but it falls just three full days (including a weekend) after Friday night's public meeting about asbestos safety.

That meeting was the first held by the Office of Housing on the issue, despite its having known about asbestos on the site since at least mid-October last year. That the start of works so closely follows this solitary meeting demonstrates nothing but contempt for community concerns about asbestos in an otherwise welcome $9 million housing redevelopment project. This is especially so given that the public meeting left unanswered a raft of questions on which Northcote MP Fiona Richardson, housing minister Richard Wynne, and the Office of Housing have been consistently pressed for answers.

The bureaucratic reasoning behind the pronounced lack of disclosure on this project appears to be that the word 'asbestos' evokes automatic public concern, which can be curtailed by telling the community as little as possible as late as possible before works start. As one bureaucrat said at Friday's meeting, the Office of Housing would do the right thing regardless of the level of public communication.

Unfortunately, when each belated disclosure forced by community pressure has revealed serious questions about the project – from the delayed release of an incomplete asbestos audit, to the housing minister's planned ministerial photo-shoot at the site, to concerns over the asbestos track record of the demolition contractor, and the very low total cost of demolition and asbestos removal – the public is entitled to view the lack of disclosure as a symptom that all may indeed not be well with asbestos management on the site.

Asbestos is relatively well regulated in Victoria, though not without scope for improvement. It should also be said that whatever WorkSafe inspections or air monitoring take place, if adverse findings arise then health risks have already occurred.

As one resident noted at the meeting, the Office of Housing seemed unclear on just how they would notify residents in the event of an incident. This situation was somewhat improved by WorkSafe's suggestion of an incident board, though some people may not be comfortable in coming close enough to read it if they see from a distance that an incident has happened. The WorkCover advisory line (1800 136 089), while also a good idea, may similarly allow reporting of incidents, but not prevent them from occurring in the first place.

If these are just fanciful concerns, why not disclose all relevant information? Addressing public concerns via continuing robust public communication would have instilled confidence in the community that there was nothing to hide and no corners had been cut. Instead, the Office of Housing has ignored our concerns and proceeded with the removal works.

This morning, I restated to Housing the call for a week's postponement of the works from the date that all key questions have been answered, related information has been released as identified, and the community has been updated via appropriate letterboxing. This morning, asbestos workers were on-site. What of the questions Fiona Richardson wrote down at Friday's meeting?

Finally, I have asked Housing to post an urgent notice of the status of the project on its website. Let's see how long it takes them.

Public meeting too close to start of asbestos works

There'll be more on this soon, but here are my initial thoughts on yesterday's well attended public meeting about the asbestos-contaminated Roberts Street Northcote public housing estate. The meeting was held by the Office of Housing at the adjacent Baden Morgan Reserve.

WorkSafe representative, Steven Peters, advised that notification of asbestos removal had been received by WorkSafe that day, allowing the works to proceed on Tuesday 1 April (next week). This is only a day later than the 31 March date I had been told over the phone by senior Housing official, Ed David, and shows what little regard for public concern is held by the Office of Housing – there's really just this weekend and Monday between the expression of quite a few unaddressed concerns and the start of the works.

Remember also that Housing was ready to proceed back on 11 March – without the so-called FAQs they posted on their website only on 14 March, without releasing the asbestos control plan, without telling us who the asbestos removalist is (WorkSafe told us anyway), without a commitment to release the results of further testing, and without last night's public meeting, which was forced by community pressure that has included an independent community meeting held at the park on 5 March.

Last night Northcote MP Fiona Richardson, who chairs the community advisory committee for the project, said little, avoiding questions raised with her consistently since November last year, including in unanswered letters in January and earlier this month. Despite her prominent role in the project, Richardson's approach was to allow Housing officials to take all the heat.

Ed David, Director of Housing's Property Services and Asset Management Division, was among them. He avoided confirming a start-date but was undone by WorkSafe's advice about the notification it had received that allows the 1 April start mentioned above. Despite being just days away from the start of the works, the asbestos control plan, according to David, was still not in its 'final form'. He would also not commit to the release of the plan, and seemed unaware of a commitment to do this in the FAQs published on Housing's own Roberts Street redevelopment website

Nor would he commit to the release of results from asbestos air monitoring to be undertaken during the removal and demolition works. A local resident raised the strong point in this regard that by the time monitoring showed safe levels had been exceeded, it would already be too late.

A theme to emerge from Housing was that it would follow proper procedures with asbestos regardless of the effectiveness or otherwise of any public communication. I noted in response that asbestos laws did not guarantee there would be no breach in safety, and that, regardless of the legal framework, any increased transparency would result in greater government accountability – a good thing when it came to asbestos.

Points raised about the demolition contractor's track record on asbestos, and about the very low fixed price of the demolition contract ($161,150 including asbestos removal) were skated over by Housing, but remain of concern.

They were also dismissive of the fact that the asbestos removal sub-contractor, while legally licenced by WorkSafe as a class B removalist, is not included in Victorian Trades Hall Council's register of recognised removalists (List 80). The sub-contractor has therefore not signed the VTHC's stringent code of conduct that goes beyond the legal asbestos licencing requirements administered by WorkSafe.

The VTHC advised me before the meeting that improvements could be made with regard to asbestos safety in Victoria, and that WorkSafe last year agreed to work with the VTHC by re-establishing an asbestos activities reference group to look at strengthening inspections and addressing problems.

The meeting left unclear the status of the park during the demolition. Again, just days before the works begin, clear details about what will happen with the park did not really emerge, and a likely road closure of Roberts Street was raised without a commitment to publicise the details well in advance.

Were there any positives to emerge from the meeting? Yes. The fact that it happened at all was a good thing, despite an agenda having been set without public notification, the poor timing of the meeting, and the inappropriate proximity to the start-date of the works.

There was also some clarification of what will happen with asbestos 'mastics' (rubbery asbestos containing sealant used on panels in the flats). There appears to have been a shift from the position indicated in the tender documents, such that mastics will not now be left to fall with the rubble, but will be carefully removed beforehand. Good.

Another positive was the level of community engagement. People clearly responded to the community letterboxing, despite poor promotion of the meeting by the Office of Housing. There were just a few among the audience not wanting an open debate, but they were not across the detail and were ineffectual in the face of a clear public will to get some answers. There were also many good questions from active local residents apart from myself, while many others have worked to publicise the meeting among local families.

Also positive has been the responsiveness of WorkSafe in answering my inquiries, and in the attendance by Steven Peters at the meeting. Steven advised that residents could ring the WorkCover advisory number 1800 136 089 should they see anything happening on the site that causes concern. He also told me after the meeting that an incident board would be installed near the site, providing up-to-date information about incidents/issues of concern during the asbestos removal and demolition process – a positive step.

Victorian Trades Hall Council has also been very responsive on this issue with information and advice in the lead-up to the meeting, and in facilitating contact with WorkSafe and other relevant parties. The VTHC clearly has a key role in advancing occupational health and safety, including the appropriate management of asbestos.

What should happen now? Well, Fiona Richardson took down some questions she's really already had quite a few times over past months, so these should be published with responses on the redevelopment website without delay. Among the information to be provided, we should have all results of further testing on the site, a response to the call for the public release of air monitoring results, an honouring of the commitment in the Housing FAQs to release the asbestos control plan, and clear explanations of what will be happening with the park (including how it will be protected) and the closure of Roberts Street.

There's a lot here still not on the table given the proposed 1 April start. That start must therefore be delayed for at least a week after all the above information has been provided and publicly notified through a letterboxed update. That way there will at least be some minimal timeframe within which the released information can be publicly scrutinised and further questioned as needed. Fiona Richardson and the Office of Housing must be open and quickly responsive to any new questions that arise in that period. Unless these steps are taken, last night's public meeting will be mere lip-service to public concerns about asbestos at Roberts Street.

Questions? Send me an email, or call 0404 526 555. You could also email Fiona Richardson or call her electoral office on 9481 5777 to express your concerns.

Stay tuned for more following review of the digital video recorded at the meeting.

Come along to the park tonight to demand answers on asbestos

Hopefully you've seen the flyers I've distributed about the place, but if not, please be sure to come along to the Baden Morgan Reserve tonight at 6.00pm to demand answers from Northcote MP Fiona Richardson about asbestos management during the redevelopment of the adjacent Roberts Street public housing estate. Asbestos removal works are set to begin on the site next week, with many questions still unresolved.

If you're new to the issue and are coming here for the first time, you might like to watch a short video embedded in the previous post that covers some of the key issues. If you have trouble with that, you can always watch the video on the YouTube site.

Hope to see you tonight!

A video tour of Roberts Street

On the eve of tomorrow's public meeting – 6.00pm Friday 28 March at the Baden Morgan Reserve – here's a short video covering some of the key issues about asbestos at Roberts Street.

To view the video, click on the 'play' symbol on the menu at the bottom of the embedded video screen. If you have trouble, you can also view it directly at the YouTube site.

WorkSafe confirms asbestos suspension

WorkSafe today confirmed via email that City Circle was indeed suspended for ten months from removing asbestos in May 2005, and is currently not licenced to remove the deadly fibres.

According to WorkSafe, the company was last licenced in 2006 but did not meet the criteria for renewal and so its licence was not renewed. WorkSafe said the exact date in 2006 of the company's last licencing would need to be confirmed by reference to archives. A recent email inquiry to the company regarding the circumstances of its past licencing has so far met with no response.

As mentioned in other posts on this blog, City Circle – which is well qualified to knock the buildings over – will sub-contract out asbestos removal to a company licenced by WorkSafe. While the identity of the sub-contractor is yet to be published by the Office of Housing, WorkSafe confirmed in the same email that Imajika Pty Ltd is the licenced sub-contractor for this project. According to WorkSafe's website, the company is currently licenced as a Class B asbestos removalist, but separate inquiries show it is not included on the Victorian Trades Hall Council's latest list (No. 80) of recognised asbestos removalists.

VTHC publishes the list every three months to inform people which companies have signed its stringent asbestos code of conduct, which goes beyond Victoria's legal and regulatory requirements of asbestos licencing by WorkSafe.

The licencing of the sub-contractor is good news, but the asbestos track record of the lead demolition contractor is not. One would have thought this was precisely the kind of information that the Office of Housing ought to have disclosed in the public interest. Maybe they can explain why they didn't at Friday's public meeting?

Safety first on asbestos?

There's no question mark in the same headline in Heather Gallagher's story for the Northcote Leader this morning, but her article at least promotes the public meeting at 6.00pm this Friday 28 March at the Baden Morgan Reserve next to the Roberts Street flats. It also includes my quote about the persistently poor public communication about asbestos safety in this project.

Further, the article appears to confirm that Richardson will attend Friday evening's meeting, offering locals the opportunity to run the gauntlet of bureaucratic stage-management to ask their local MP some tough questions about asbestos safety.

Many of the questions that still need to be answered, despite the so-called FAQs offered by Housing, are set out in my still unanswered letters to Richardson and Wynne of Tuesday 11 March. Of course, another big question is why there will be such a ridiculously short time before the release of any new information, the public meeting, and the revised start of asbestos removal works – which I am led by a senior Housing official to believe will be next Monday 31 March (thanks, Ed).

While the release of any new information this week – the asbestos control plan, the name of the asbestos removal sub-contractor etc. – will indeed be most welcome, the public needs to see just how close to the start of the works this takes place. For this reason, I have taken a snapshot of the Office of Housing redevelopment website as of this morning, so we can see just what is added in the last few days before the meeting and the start of the works. The snapshot shows the site was last updated on Wednesday 19 March, so let's wait and see.

Why are the timeframes for disclosure so important? Well, as I said in the Leader article, the community needs to have the information necessary to judge for itself that public health will be protected. It needs that information in time to challenge the government's actions, not when it is already too late to do so.

In this case, the failure of timely disclosure has been accompanied by government embarrassment in relation to the asbestos audit and the tender documents when information has finally been released or otherwise disclosed.

With the announcement of the demolition contractor, City Circle, in late February, the government is also yet to explain this VCAT case regarding the ten-month suspension of an asbestos removal licence. City Circle will sub-contract out asbestos removal for the Roberts Street project, but its own track record in this area is highly relevant to the project and should have been disclosed in the public interest.

Come to Friday's public meeting and we'll get some of these issues on the table!

Public meeting on asbestos, but arrogance continues

The announcement in a letter circulated on Tuesday that there will be an Office of Housing public meeting about the Roberts Street Northcote redevelopment project – if not exclusively about the demolition and asbestos safety – seems at first sight like good news. Yet that meeting – at Baden Morgan Reserve at 6.00pm on Friday 28 March – occurs just a couple of days before a revised start-date of Monday 31 March advised to me earlier this week by a senior Housing official (TBC).

If questions haven't been answered before then, and there are still doubts after the meeting, it will be effectively too late to further influence the outcome regarding asbestos safety and disclosure of public interest information. One could also argue that the timing of the meeting is hardly calculated to maximise community attendance, as called for in my request for a public meeting in (as-yet-unanswered) letters to Northcote MP Fiona Richardson and housing minister Richard Wynne on Tuesday 11 March.

With the good news effectively over, let's focus on the letter announcing the meeting. It came from Richardson, is dated 17 March and arrived in some Northcote letterboxes on Tuesday 18 March. The Northcote MP sets the ball rolling with this charmer: 'With demolition about to commence [emphasis mine] it has come to my attention that some misinformation is being circulated about the safe removal of asbestos at the site'.

Richardson doesn't say just who she thinks is circulating the misinformation, or indeed what it consists of, but she then proceeds to lay on the spin with a trowel.

There are indeed strict requirements and regulations relating to asbestos works in Victoria, but the existence of these controls does not guarantee compliance, and in the face of sloppy and evasive disclosure, the community is entitled to doubts that correct processes will be followed.

Yes, only a licenced removalist can do the work, they must submit a control plan, and the air will indeed be monitored, but who is the removalist (a sub-contractor to City Circle), where is the control plan, and how frequently will the air be monitored? Will the results of monitoring be promptly released? Richardson skates over these issues in the same arrogant way she has treated key questions sent to her on 18 January and again on 11 March after the community's 5 March public meeting

Remember, the asbestos removal works were scheduled to begin onTuesday 11 March. Richardson, Wynne and Housing were prepared to steam ahead without the shoddy FAQs they published only on Friday 14 March, without identifying the sub-contractor, without releasing the control plan, and without answering a series of questions about this project to do with further testing and the asbestos that tender documents indicate will be left at low levels in the rubble from the demolished buildings. But for a difficulty disconnecting power from the site – a squabble described in today's irrelevant coverage in The Melbourne Times – the works would have already commenced.

For Richardson to state in her letter that all Office of Housing documents have been made publicly available is a farce. The minutes of community advisory committee meetings have not been readily available, and they have certainly not been published online; the asbestos audit was completed mid-October 2007 and was published on the redevelopment website only on Christmas Eve 2007

The tender documents have never been published online and Housing made it difficult to secure a copy if you were anyone but a demolition contractor bidding for the job. I got my copy on 3 January, after the tender was first advertised (but not notified online) on 12 December and I threatened the Office of Housing with legal action if they released official tender documents on a selective basis.

Now, as drips of information are squeezed from Housing and the demolition looms, we should ask just how far in advance of the start-date the community will have a full picture of the risks and the measures proposed to mitigate them.

Bear in mind that every question that has arisen from this project stems from information grudgingly released by the Office of Housing. One can see why they are so poor at disclosure. At the forthcoming public meeting I will have those hard-won public documents for anyone who wants to see them, and can show you just where the issues arise.

I will also be asking how a 47-unit public housing estate can be safely demolished – including asbestos removal – for the princely sum of $161,150 – a figure that equates to less than $3500 per unit in a redevelopment worth $9 million. What role did price play in the tender selection?

Finally, the demolition contractor, City Circle, will be sub-contracting out asbestos removal in this case, but I think many people will share the view that their own track record with asbestos is nevertheless highly relevant. I can only suggest that you read this 2005 case from the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) and form your own judgment.

So please come to the public meeting and call Richardson to account, though her letter doesn't even confirm she will be there. Indeed, her absence would be unsurprising given that she was invited to but did not attend the community's own meeting in the park on 5 March.

In the meantime, please email Richardson or call her on 9481 5777 to demand answers, the prompt release of related information, and her attendance at the public meeting to account for her actions on this issue as your local MP and chair of the redevelopment community advisory committee.

Please also write to the local papers or call them, and say that you want to see rigorous coverage on asbestos safety at Roberts Street, that you want to see the community's questions meaningfully answered well before the asbestos removal starts. There is likely only one more edition of our weekly locals before the works start.

To make your views known, email Brigid Ennis at The Melbourne Times or ring her on 9473 4700 (switch) and say you want to hear more than distracting trivia about bureaucratic squabbles over turning off the power on the site. Email Heather Gallagher of the Northcote Leader or call her on 9495 9568 (direct) and ask why the paper has failed to cover the issue despite being called and sent information about it. Radio 3CR has been the only local media champion on this issue, consistently providing a forum for raising genuine public interest concerns.

If you disagree with this post, let's have your arguments and an open debate – leave a comment or question, send me an email, or call 0404 526 555 to talk in person.

Asbestos FAQs don't make the grade

The Office of Housing has a liking for 'posting' new information at obscure times, and the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) on asbestos at its Roberts Street Northcote public housing estate are no exception.

They went up on the redevelopment website yesterday evening (Friday 14 March) and unfortunately offer an inadequate picture of asbestos safety measures during the imminent demolition of the derelict 47-unit estate. Bear in mind here that the works were to start on Tuesday 11 March without anything like even the poor response to questions offered by these FAQs.

Also note that the FAQs seemingly represent the Office of Housing's best response after many bites at the cherry, and after they were sent key questions about this issue back on 18 January – questions that were updated and again highlighted for them in letters sent to Northcote MP Fiona Richardson and housing minister Richard Wynne last Tuesday 11 March.

Well, I've safely archived their FAQs and here make available a comprehensive response [PDF] showing just where the gaps are – and they are many. The response has links to further information online, and tips on some simple things you can do to get a better result on this issue. It also contains contact details for Richardson and Wynne – as well, of course, for me. Questions and comments are welcome!

Asbestos delay sparks new call for answers, public meeting

Last Friday's Office of Housing web announcement (bottom of page) that Roberts Street asbestos works would be delayed followed by just one day the 6 March letterbox update telling us that the works were to begin this week on Tuesday 11 March. The reason for the sudden turnaround? Apparently, there have been difficulties getting the electricity switched off on the site.

The delay provides an opportunity for the Office of Housing to heed the increasing community expressions of disquiet over the handling of asbestos on this site following last Wednesday's successful public meeting at Baden Morgan Reserve. The meeting called for a stop to the works until appropriate information is released and community concerns over asbestos have been resolved.

Despite the supposed problem with getting sparkies on-site to turn off the power, the delay will likely be brief, and so I have taken the opportunity to write again to Northcote MP Fiona Richardson and housing minister Richard Wynne to highlight the questions remaining (including the release of information), call for the stoppage, and suggest a public meeting at which asbestos issues can be openly discussed and questions answered before the works begin.

The letters, to be sent by email and fax Tuesday morning, are here in PDF format:

Tuesday 11 March 2008 letter to Fiona Richardson

Tuesday 11 March 2008 letter to Richard Wynne

I encourage everyone to write to these pollies themselves as soon as possible, and to encourage their friends to do the same. Further public action will be advised here.

Keeping an eye on Roberts Street

While the Office of Housing has advised that asbestos removal works will now not commence this Tuesday 11 March, it is important that everyone keeps an eye on the Roberts Street estate in case unscheduled works begin. This shouldn't happen, but if you do see activity on the site that appears related to the demolition, here's what to do.

First, call me on 0404 526 555 and I will alert the media and send a text alert to local families.

Secondly, use whatever means you have to capture a digital record of what's happening. If you have a digital video camera, you can upload footage to the ABC News website that will be considered for ABC News. You can also send pictures by email or mobile (MMS) to +61 417 751 633. If you are contacted by the media for comment, you are welcome to refer them to me as you wish.

The delay in the scheduled demolition works offers us an opportunity to put our case for further public disclosure and a halt to demolition works until all the facts are in and have been considered by the community. Don't let them catch us napping!

For further background:
Demand asbestos answers by Tuesday
More wasted paper,recycled answers
Thanks for coming to the public meeting!
Demo safe for Northcote families?
A quick tour of Roberts Street