Blue Mountains City councillors unanimously voted to press the NSW government for action about the “unacceptable site condition and operations” associated with the mushroom farm operating in and around the state heritage-listed Lapstone tunnel at a council meeting last Tuesday.
And Springwood-based Senator Doug Cameron has said the Fair Work Ombudsman will now also investigate employment standards at the site.
Before going into the council meeting, mayor Mark Greenhill told the Blue Mountains Gazette he was “particularly concerned to ensure that workers’ conditions are safeguarded and appropriate”.
Last week, the Gazette’s front page detailed a litany of concerns by Blue Mountains MP Trish Doyle surrounding the site on the Great Western Highway in Glenbrook.
Ms Doyle was alerted to the site problems by Blaxland constituent David Watson who has been campaigning for a cycleway through the tunnel.
That site visit revealed “appalling working and living conditions” at the mushroom farm, operated by Mushroom BioTech Australia which leases the land from the state government.
Council general manager Robert Greenwood said the council wrote to Crown Lands in June in relation to cleaning up the site. The council believes the mushroom farming is contributing to high levels of weeds and pollutants in the nearby creek.
“Substantial investigation and further representation to state agencies will be required as part of any resolution of these issues,” Clr Greenhill said.
“That is why I have suggested in my mayoral minute that [the NSW workplace health and safety register] WorkCover is part of any investigation”.
Over the past 13 months, Mr Watson has made many attempts to get someone to look into the site’s problems, approaching a range of people including Crown Lands, Blue Mountains Council, former MP Roza Sage, Stuart Ayres MP and Sydney Trains. He said he was pleased new MP Trish Doyle was looking into the issue and had made the matter public.
“It’s taken such a long time,” Mr Watson said. “I am happy it’s been addressed. As long as there is continued action and it doesn’t stall and someone takes some responsibility.”
After referrals by Ms Doyle to Senator Cameron about employment standards at the site, the Fair Work Ombudsman “has indicated they will investigate the farm through their ongoing ‘harvest trail’ inquiry,” a spokesman from Ms Doyle’s office said.
Yesterday Ms Doyle was putting a number of questions on notice to the Parliament about concerns over the lease.
Member for Penrith Stuart Ayres has referred the matter to the Minister for Industrial Relations, the Minister for the Environment and Heritage and the Minister for Lands and Water, Niall Blair.
The Blue Mountains Gazette has contacted Mr Blair for comment.
The owner of the business, John Gates, admitted last week there was a problem at the site.
