Chris Wilson, the executive director, said in writing to the Concerned Residents Group, “I can assure you the demolition will not go ahead until the Working Group is satisfied with the information contained in the pre-demolition plans and that all issues previously raised with PKC and in submissions have been addressed.” 

 Brad Hazzard, the Minister for Planning, after meeting with a delegation in September 2013 ordered that a representative from the Concerned Residents’ Group should attend the regular meetings of the Working Group. 

 The Minister’s orders were ignored by the Working Group and their meetings continued in secret.  There have been cover-ups all the way through this approval process.

The serious concerns raised by the community [about the stack demolition] have still not been addressed.  The  concerns raised in the submissions have not been addressed.  The demolition is to continue with very little improvement.

There are still dangers from clouds of dust containing high levels of arsenic, cadmium, chromium, copper, iron, lead, nickel, zinc and selenium.  There is no guarantee that asbestos has all gone from the bricks, surfacing and concrete.

  Worst of all is the discovery of sub-dominant amounts of mullite found in the recent EPA testing.  The Mullite Safety Data sheet states, “This product contains crystalline silica.  Avoid dust creation.  Do not inhale dusts from this product”.

  Inhaling silica dust causes silicosis – a lung disease as lethal as asbestos-related diseases.  Because silica dust is fine and invisible it can float great distances.  The whole of Illawarra could be affected.

The state government has been told all these facts but still allows PKC to forge ahead with this demolition by explosion.