26th of February 2025, 4:47 pm
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Legalise Cannabis MP David Ettershank will join western residents at a Yarraville protest to demand pollution filters be fitted to the West Gate Tunnel ventilation stacks.
Mr Ettershank said it was hard to fathom that around 70,000 cars and trucks a day will use the new $10 billion toll road, but emissions from the two ventilation structures would not be filtered.
“The tunnel is supposed to reduce air pollution by moving vehicles underground, but if vehicle emissions are simply pumped back via unfiltered stacks, it will do nothing but pollute,” Mr Ettershank said.
“The West Gate Tunnel Project’s Inquiry and Advisory Committee recommended to the state Planning Minister that ventilation filtration be fitted to reduce air pollution emissions. Why hasn’t that happened?”
The Western Metro MP will be on the ground for the Sunday, March 2 protest in the Yarraville Gardens.
Mr Ettershank has already raised the issue in parliament, calling on Environment Minister Steve Dimopoulos to explain what measures the government has taken to reduce air pollution and how they will monitor the ventilation stacks.
The ventilation system for the West Gate Tunnel Project includes two ventilation structures – one above the northern tunnel portal near the Maribyrnong River and the other above the southern (outbound) tunnel portal in the West Gate Freeway.
“Last year, Maribyrnong Council declared a health emergency due to poor air quality, noting that hospital admissions for young people with respiratory ailments are 171% above the Australian average,” Mr Ettershank said.
In responding to Mr Ettershank’s question, Environment Minister Steve Dimopoulos claims that the West Gate Tunnel will help reduce air pollution by moving traffic off roads where people live and work, putting vehicles underground.
The minister is also promising to continue air quality monitoring for up to five years once the tunnel opens to explore whether any future actions are needed.
Mr Ettershank said he was unhappy with this wait-and-see response.
“The minister’s answer to my question in parliament was disappointing given the manifestly obvious threat to the health and amenity of residents near the ventilation structures.”
Hobsons Bay City Council has repeated its call for pollution filters to be added to West Gate Tunnel vents.
Residents of Melbourne’s western suburbs in December also launched a last-ditch legal attempt to compel the retrofitting of pollution filters on the West Gate Tunnel’s ventilation stacks.
The Maribyrnong Truck Action Group (MTAG), through Environmental Justice Australia, has sent an urgent legal request to the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA), seeking further consultation with residents.
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