NSW: Family to sue NSW govt over radioactive home
By Nick Ralston, State Political Reporter11 Dec 2008 4:29 PM
SYDNEY, Dec 11 AAP - The owner of a Sydney property riddled with radioactive waste says he has no choice but to sue the NSW government after it failed to honour a commitment to buy the home.
Peter Vassiliou bought the Hunters Hill property in 2001, after being told the health department had cleared the site of contamination from a uranium smelter used in the 1910s.
Concerns about radiation levels at homes on Nelson Parade were raised again earlier this year, prompting a parliamentary inquiry.
It found sections of the street needed to be remediated - especially the Vassiliou property at number 11 - before the area would be safe for residential occupation.
Mr Vassiliou, who has never lived in the home, said NSW Health had told him in July that it would acquire the property at a "mutually agreed" value.
On that basis he planned to bring his wife and three young daughters home from Singapore on December 12 to live in Australia again after working abroad for a number of years.
But he said NSW Health and Health Minister John Della Bosca had since gone quiet on the issue, prompting him to sue to try to recover the cost of the home.
Mr Vassiliou declined to reveal how much he paid, but the waterfront home in Sydney's north is reported to have cost $4.65 million.
"Our house is basically unliveable now. We've really got nowhere to live," Mr Vassiliou said from Singapore.
"After spending a couple of years abroad we don't have a family home to go back to for Christmas.
"We're relying on the goodwill of our family and friends to put us up over Christmas and into the new year all because the NSW government is dragging its heels."
The Vassiliou family will sue on the grounds of nuisance, allegedly caused by the radiation being emitted from numbers 7 and 9 Nelson Parade, which are owned by the government.
It will also allege the health department was guilty of misrepresentation when it wrote a letter to Hunters Hill Council in 1989 saying the site was clear of contamination.
Mr Vassiliou said he was not trying to profit from the situation and just wanted to be compensated for what he paid for the property.
NSW Health said there had been ongoing discussions with the legal team representing the Vassiliou family.
"The department disputes that it is liable to the owners, however, given the foreshadowed legal claim it would be inappropriate to comment further on the matter at the present time," a spokesman said.
