2018-09-18
My question is the Minister representing the Minister for Health.
It’s become clear that DHHS has not been proactive in getting a full picture of health impacts on our community from the Factory Fire in West Footscray on 30 August 2018.
DHHS has advised, via Maribyrnong Council’s Facebook page, that their ‘emergency data system’ hasn’t recorded any spikes in ER presentation since the fire started.
DHHS are encouraging people to go to their GP, but are leaving it to GPs to alert them to any increases in patient presentations.
Meanwhile, the results of the community survey conducted my office almost immediately after the fire has over 60% of 433 respondents reporting symptoms, including children with week-long blood noses. The most common symptoms reported by hundreds of people were persistent sore throats, headaches and dizziness.
So my question is this, despite this multitude of cases, and their own air data showing PM2.5 reached above 90, hitting the most dire category for air quality, how can the government maintain that there has been no risk to human health?
Huong Truong MLC