IN a highly unusual move, Hobsons Bay mayor Tony Briffa last Saturday stood up before a rally at Newport and declared his opposition to methyl bromide — before a planning application to fumigate with the lethal gas has been determined by the council.
Container Fumigation Services (CFS) wants to fumigate containers at 407 Douglas Parade, about 250 metres from Newport homes and close to parks, sports clubs, kindergartens, schools and the Scienceworks museum.
The legal buffer zone for methyl bromide is 1000 metres.
Cr Briffa told the angry rally that he wouldn’t be intimidated by a letter to the council from lawyers representing CFS.
‘‘To make it really really clear, I am opposed to the use of methyl bromide,’’ he said. ‘‘I’m sure there are people here from CFS here today … please feel free to record that and show that to your lawyers.
‘‘Their lawyers, let me tell you ladies and gentlemen, have already written to the council raising concerns about me and my opposition to methyl bromide.
‘‘That will not make me back off.’’
In 2007, the Supreme Court found Williamstown North ward’s Cr Peter Hemphill — who was also at Saturday’s rally — was ‘‘affected by an apparent bias’’ in relation to a planning matter involving a developer called Winky Pop.
This led to legal changes preventing councillors voting on the issues where they had an apparent bias.
After the rally, the Weekly asked Cr Briffa if he had ‘Winkypopped’ himself.
Cr Briffa said he would not be voting on the CFS application before the council, but that it would be decided by a special planning committee panel of three. He said his opposition to methyl bromide was on the record, so he would have been excluded from voting in any case. In August 2010, the Weekly reported residents’ alarm at plans to use methyl bromide about 200 metres from Altona homes.
Viking Express Transport had subcontracted CFS to treat logs destined for China. The fumigation, being carried out unlawfully without a planning permit, was shut down after our exclusive investigation.
The Weekly again sought comment from CFS but was told ‘‘no comment’’ by the person who answered the call. Williamstown and Altona Meadows councillors Angela Altair and Luba Grigorovitch, respectively, were also at the rally.
