RESIDENTS are moving out of Brooklyn after experiencing 100 days of dust levels usually associated with the Black Saturday bushfires.
The state opposition is urging the government to put resources into reversing dust and odour problems in the state’s most polluted suburb.
Last Thursday, Brooklyn Residents Action Group members tied 100 black balloons on a dust-monitoring station in the heart of Brooklyn’s residential area.
Ukraine-born couple Yaroslav and Olexandra Koptchak said they were unaware of Brooklyn’s pollution problem when they moved to Heather Avenue five years ago.
Now, concerned for the health of their eight-month-old son Robert, they are reconsidering their future in the suburb.
If they leave their car outside for a day it becomes covered in dust. Some nights the stench is so horrendous they can’t sleep.
“It’s a combination, I would say, of decomposed animal bodies and some sort of meat processing smell,” Mr Koptchak said.
Rosemary Pivelli, who has lived in Nolan Avenue for 50 years, has put her house on the market but prospective buyers ask what the foul smell is.
‘‘I can’t take it. Sometimes I throw up. We can’t take it any more. Something’s got to be done.”
Kevin Dunn, who has lived in Almond Avenue for nearly 20 years, said there had always been a smell but the problem had worsened in the past five years to the point it was a daily occurrence.
“When the Environmental Protection Authority had their crackdown there was an improvement – obviously some companies moved or improved their methods – but there have been recurring problems and it always seems to be the same companies causing it,” he said.
“A lot of the problem here is heavy industry – trucks mostly – travelling through the surrounding areas raising a lot of dust, a lot of diesel.
‘‘If you dust the house, the table for instance, you can come back literally an hour later and run your finger across the top of the table and see the layer of dust that’s been deposited.
“We are considering moving. My missus is looking at places slightly further out at the moment. It’s just not the place that we moved in to 20 years ago.”
Williamstown MP Wade Noonan said it was time the Napthine government stepped in to devote “significant resources to reverse the environmental pollution”.
“If Denis Napthine can find $1 billion to clean up the Yarra River and Port Phillip Bay, then he is obligated to clean up Melbourne’s most-polluted suburb.”
Mr Noonan has lodged in Parliament a petition signed by 400 people calling for government intervention. Environment Minister Ryan Smith’s spokesman James Martin said: “Excellent progress has been made in relation to odours and there is now a concerted focus on dealing with dust issues.”
