News Service from House Harris

Vic: Grandmother will go to jail rather than pay tenant's bill

MELBOURNE, April 11 AAP - An 82-year-old grandmother is prepared to go to jail rather than foot the million dollar plus bill to clean up toxic chemicals left behind by a rogue tenant at her Melbourne warehouse.

Ruth Browne's children, Alf Browne and Bev Olbrick, said the tenant, whose business has gone into liquidation, had abused his EPA licence by storing up to 50 tonnes of dry cleaning chemical and waste on the premises.

His licence allowed for 1.2 tonnes.

Mr Browne said the tenant, who had not paid rent since 2005 and had now abandoned the warehouse, had stored more than 300 drums of toxic waste on the premises in Ebden St, Moorabbin in Melbourne's south-east.

He said despite informing the EPA of the breach, the environmental regulator had demanded that his mother, who bought the warehouse as part of her superannuation, pay the $1.3 million clean-up bill.

Ms Olbrick said the dire situation had devastated her mother.

"She's prepared to go to jail rather than pay the bill," Ms Olbrick told AAP.

Opposition spokesman for the environment David Davis described the EPA as a ramshackle organisation that needed to be overhauled.

He said toxic waste was leaking from the barrels and presented a risk to the local community of the light industrial area.

"Because of the EPA's failure to act at an early point, failure to enforce regulations and failure to guarantee that toxic chemicals were not stored in capacities above what was allowed by permits, a landlord is now faced with a very difficult position," Mr Davis said.

"The landlord here is being told she is responsible, despite her telling the EPA at an early point that they needed to act against a tenant who was breaking the law."

He said Mrs Brown's dilemma was a disturbing case of negligence by the government agency.

"What is the point of having licences for the storage of toxic waste if the conditions of those licences are not enforced and breaches not prosecuted?" Mr Davis said.

"Premier John Brumby must bring this cowboy agency to heel and ensure that nothing like this appalling case is ever allowed to happen again."