A WA parliamentary question on notice addresses pesticide use by local governments, including liability insurance, glyphosate safety, compliance monitoring, and environmental impact assessment. The Minister representing the Minister for Local Government largely deflects the questions, citing individual local government responsibility or other ministerial portfolios.

AnsweredQoN 1101Legislative Council
Asked
24 September 2015
Portfolio
Local Government

QuestionView source ↗

PESTICIDES
1101. Hon LYNN MacLAREN to the minister
representing the Minister for Local Government:
(1) What
liability insurance protection do WA local governments have in relation to the
application of scheduled poisons in our urban environment; and, if none, why
not?
(2) Now that the
World Health Organization's International Agency for Research on Cancer
has classified Glyphosate as a class 2A probable carcinogen, does the minister
consider it safe and appropriate for local governments to apply this scheduled
poison in children's playgrounds, parks, sports ovals and other public
places such as footpaths and roads; and, if yes, why; and, if no, why not?
(3) How do local
government authorities monitor the compliance of pesticide application
contractors against the WA Health ( Pesticides ) Regulations; and please provide details?
(4) How do local
government authorities measure the effectiveness or otherwise of pesticides
that are used in urban environments, including the impacts on the environment,
particularly wetlands and surface waters; and please provide details?

AnswerView source ↗

I thank the honourable member for
some notice of the question.
(1) Insurance
arrangements are the responsibility of individual local governments, and do not
fall within the portfolio responsibilities of the Minister for Local
Government.
(2) These
matters do not fall under the local government portfolio and should be
redirected to the Minister for Health.
(3)–(4) These are operational matters between
individual local governments.
Having read the question area around that, if there is a
particular local government authority that the member would like to inquire
about, that obviously could be followed up directly by the ministerial office,
or the member can put it on notice if she has an issue around a particular
individual local government authority.

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