EXCLUSIVE: Concerns have been raised about the "appalling" safety and conditions of workers, as well as alleged environmental damage, at a commercial mushroom farm in Glenbrook, following scrutiny by Blue Mountains MP Trish Doyle.
The farm on the Great Western Highway at Glenbrook is owned by Mushroom BioTech Australia which leases the land from the state government. It is the oldest mushroom farm in Australia.
"I am appalled at what appears to be illegal doss houses at the site - dangerous wiring of lighting and switches, a makeshift shower room and two filthy rooms that appear to have been used recently as sleeping quarters," Ms Doyle told the Gazette.
The farm is inside and next to the heritage-listed Lapstone railway tunnel beneath the Great Western Highway which was built in 1891. The last train ran through the tunnel in 1913 when commercial mushroom farming started. During WWII the tunnel was used to store poison gas, but for the past two decades an exotic mushroom variety has been grown there.
Ms Doyle, whose electorate nears the site, said she was "shocked" when she visited recently at the bidding of a Blaxland resident who has been campaigning for a cycleway through the tunnel. Ms Doyle has demanded the state government investigate.
"The operations of Mushroom Biotech represent a significant and incontrovertible risk to the safety of workers and the general public.
"It looks like something from another time or place. It's not something I think our community would accept if they knew that it was right here under the Great Western Highway that we drive over it every day."
Her concerns have been echoed by Blue Mountains City Council. At last night's council meeting mayor Mark Greenhill asked WorkCover to investigate.
Council has also asked Crown Lands, environmental authorities and WorkCover to investigate and repair the site and the mayor has appealed for Niall Blair, the Minister for Land and Water and Primary Industries, to "initiate and lead concerted action to secure a resolution to the unacceptable conditions and operations associated with the mushroom farm situated on Crown Land at Glenbrook".
Ms Doyle has taken dozens of photos, published here, documenting "doss houses, mushroom spawn in the sun beside toilet facilities, commercial waste and rubbish near waterways, exposed electrical wiring and noxious weeds" and passed them along to relevant agencies.
"Local farming is a productive and important economic activity, but it cannot be done like this with the safety of workers and bushwalkers at risk and the local environment being degraded by industrial waste," Ms Doyle said.
The current owner, John Gates, admitted to the Gazette he had a problem at the site but said it was extreme to call it a "doss house".
"Doss houses are in the city, lots of people living in one place. It's an old farm. You could find these issues at any old farm."
Mr Gates said one worker did sleep at the site occasionally because of a problem with people "dumping trees and local youth breaking into the tunnel" and because he needed to sometimes run a boiler in the evening.
He said the Department of Primary Industries "have been on to me for months now ... the railways are on my back ... but I was overseas for a month and then trying to get staff".
Mr Gates said he did not believe his staff were in any danger, adding there had never been any accidents or WorkCover issues. He did admit that "wiring will take time [and] the sheds need to come down, compost removed and rubbish and bush cut back ... It will take quite a few months."
Mr Gates said he was prepared to spend about $50,000 to remediate the site and would bring in a diesel boiler to eliminate the need for overnight supervision.
Ms Doyle told the Gazette she was heartened by Penrith MP Stuart Ayres' assurances to her that "he would follow-up with his ministerial colleagues".
"It needs a huge clean-up and remediation and it's a work site," Ms Doyle said.
"Quite aside from the mushrooms, I really worry people work in these sort of conditions. What a terrible, and what appears to be, a very toxic environment for workers," Ms Doyle said.
When approached by the Gazette, Mr Ayres' office issued the following statement: "Following this matter being raised by Stuart Ayres MP, Member for Penrith, WorkCover will work in liaison with the local council and EPA to investigate the issues."
