Latest news with #MonashCouncil
Sydney Morning Herald
5 days ago
- General
- Sydney Morning Herald
Plan to move 2500 residents onto former dump and quarry full of unstable ‘slime'
A developer is pushing for the third time to build 1100 new homes on a toxic former quarry and rubbish tip in Melbourne's south-east, even though the site is filled with pits of decaying and solid waste piles, and enormous slurry-like 'slimes' that plunge up to 20 metres beneath the surface. Developer Sterling Global has bypassed the local council and sought state government approval to build on the former sand mine in Oakleigh South, described by a resident group as a 'Frankenstein site'. Planning documents show contaminants detected at the site include methane, asbestos, naphthalene, arsenic, heavy metals and 'forever chemical' PFAS. The unstable nature of the slimes – a byproduct of sand mining – threatens the long-term settlement of buildings and other infrastructure, the documents say. Since 2016, Sterling Global has tried to push through its plans to house about 2500 people on the sprawling 19-hectare site, which was mined for four decades until the '90s and also hosted a landfill in the 1970s. Monash Council abandoned the 2016 request to rezone the site to develop townhouses and apartments, requiring a thorough addressing of soil contamination and geotechnical issues. The developer undertook further work and made a second attempt in 2022, which the council did not progress. Then, in 2023, Sterling Global bypassed the council by taking its plan – dubbed 'Talbot Village' – directly to Victorian Planning Minister Sonya Kilkenny. She has now released for consultation a draft planning scheme amendment to rezone the site as requested by the developer. Kilkenny asked a standing advisory committee to investigate whether there was sufficient technical information to proceed to the next planning stage. It published a report in September last year supporting the developer's level of investigation to date.
The Age
5 days ago
- General
- The Age
Plan to move 2500 residents onto former dump and quarry full of unstable ‘slime'
A developer is pushing for the third time to build 1100 new homes on a toxic former quarry and rubbish tip in Melbourne's south-east, even though the site is filled with pits of decaying and solid waste piles, and enormous slurry-like 'slimes' that plunge up to 20 metres beneath the surface. Developer Sterling Global has bypassed the local council and sought state government approval to build on the former sand mine in Oakleigh South, described by a resident group as a 'Frankenstein site'. Planning documents show contaminants detected at the site include methane, asbestos, naphthalene, arsenic, heavy metals and 'forever chemical' PFAS. The unstable nature of the slimes – a byproduct of sand mining – threatens the long-term settlement of buildings and other infrastructure, the documents say. Since 2016, Sterling Global has tried to push through its plans to house about 2500 people on the sprawling 19-hectare site, which was mined for four decades until the '90s and also hosted a landfill in the 1970s. Monash Council abandoned the 2016 request to rezone the site to develop townhouses and apartments, requiring a thorough addressing of soil contamination and geotechnical issues. The developer undertook further work and made a second attempt in 2022, which the council did not progress. Then, in 2023, Sterling Global bypassed the council by taking its plan – dubbed 'Talbot Village' – directly to Victorian Planning Minister Sonya Kilkenny. She has now released for consultation a draft planning scheme amendment to rezone the site as requested by the developer. Kilkenny asked a standing advisory committee to investigate whether there was sufficient technical information to proceed to the next planning stage. It published a report in September last year supporting the developer's level of investigation to date.
West Australian
26-05-2025
- West Australian
Erin Patterson trial: Department of Health probed beef Wellington poisonings as a suspected outbreak, jury told
Details of a probe launched by health authorities into the deadly mushroom lunch, including conversations with Erin Patterson, have been aired in her triple-murder trial. The trial, now in its fifth week, heard from senior public health officer Sally Anne Atkinson about a Department of Health investigation in the week following the lunch on Monday. Prosecutors allege Ms Patterson used death cap mushrooms to deliberately spike a lunch with her in-laws on July 29, 2023, while her defence argues the deaths were a tragic accident. Her husband Simon Patterson's parents, Don and Gail Patterson, and aunt, Heather Wilkinson, died in early August 2023 from multiple organ failure due to death cap poisoning. Ms Patterson has pleaded not guilty to three counts of murder and a fourth charge of attempted murder over the illness suffered by Heather's husband Ian Wilkinson – who survived the lunch. Giving evidence on Monday, Ms Atkinson told the jury she launched a probe into the then-suspected mushroom poisonings after the Department of Health was contacted by a doctor at the Austin Hospital on July 31. She said she convened a working group to investigate the cause and any public health concerns, speaking with Ms Patterson a number of times over the following days. Ms Atkinson told the court she requested the Monash Council inspect Asian grocers in the Clayton, Oakleigh and Mount Waverley suburbs after Ms Patterson reported buying dried mushrooms in April 2023. She said Ms Patterson told her she purchased the mushrooms for a pasta dish, but did not use them after noting they had a 'funny and strong' smell. Instead, she told the jury, Ms Patterson said they sat in a Tupperware container in the pantry until she pulled them out for the lunch, where they were added to fresh mushrooms and processed into a 'paste'. 'She said it was a meal she never made before and she wanted to do something fancy,' Ms Atkinson said. In a series of conversations and text messages, Ms Atkinson probed Ms Patterson further on the mushrooms, questioning where they came from and what the package looked like. She told the jury Ms Patterson was unable to say where they were bought, believed she paid cash, and no longer had the packaging. 'It didn't look very professional,' Ms Atkinson recounted Erin telling her about the small see-through bag with a white label. 'Looking at the size and volume of things in the supermarket I realise there's no way it can have been 100g worth,' a message on August 2 from Ms Patterson reads. 'I was thinking about the weight of that amount of fresh mushrooms I think but dried weigh a lot less. It was probably more like 20g dry in a little snack size bag but without the resealable top.' Ms Atkinson is expected to continue giving evidence when the hearing resumes at 10.30am on Tuesday. The trial continues.
1News
03-05-2025
- 1News
Mushroom murder trial: Patterson's husband takes the stand
The son of two alleged murder victims and estranged husband of their accused killer has spent one and a half days in the witness box. Simon Patterson pulled out of attending a deadly beef Wellington lunch the night before, saying he felt "too uncomfortable" to attend. Yet as he detailed the traumatic aftermath of the death cap mushroom meal while sitting back in a courtroom chair dressed in suit and tie, he is yet to be pressed by either legal team on why that was so. "Dad was substantially worse than mum, he was really struggling," he told the jury on Thursday about seeing Don, discoloured and struggling to speak, at hospital the Sunday after the July 29, 2023, lunch. "He wasn't right inside. He was feeling pain," Simon said between tears. The following day, defence barrister Colin Mandy pushed him further on his interactions with his parents in hospital and how he was communicating their conditions to his wife. "And as their illnesses progressed in hospital, you didn't pass on to Erin the seriousness of the conditions of Don and Gail and Ian and Heather?" "It intrigued me that she never actually asked," he replied. "That wasn't the question, Mr Patterson," Mandy said. "We didn't have that conversation, I don't think, at any time," he said. Erin Patterson has pleaded not guilty to all charges against her, including three counts of murder over the deaths of her husband's parents Don and Gail Patterson, and his aunt Heather Wilkinson. The estranged couple exchanged a few short glances over the two days he took the stand but nothing more. Simon, who will return as a witness on Monday, detailed his "up and down" relationship with his wife after they met working at Monash Council in the mid-2000s. She was a representative for the RSPCA on animal management and local laws, and he was a civil engineer. "I guess there was a fairly eclectic group of friends that formed throughout that organisation... and then slowly we got to know each other and then I guess we started a romantic relationship," Simon said on Thursday. They married on June 2, 2007, while still living in Melbourne's Oakleigh. He was attracted to his wife's intelligence and wit, and said she'd studied many degrees over her life in business, accounting and science. She qualified as an air traffic controller before they met and had previously worked at Melbourne Airport. His wife performed "home duties" while they were married, helping to raise their two children, Simon said, and studied various courses including vet science and legal studies. But money was never an issue, as they'd inherited about AU$2 million (NZ$2.16 million) from her grandmother before they married. "Money has not been the most important motivation to either Erin or me in our decisions," he told the jury on Thursday. She was generous with this money and loaned some to his siblings, Simon said. The couple moved to Perth in late 2007, where their son was born in 2009, and then travelled across northern Australia when he was four-months-old. Their first separation, of about six months, happened during this trip when Erin Patterson flew back to Perth from Townsville. "What I understood... was that she was really struggling inside herself," Simon said. They would separate several more times before doing so permanently in 2015. Simon Patterson said his wife had struggled with mental illness, including post-natal depression. Week one of the murder trial in the small town of Morwell, about two hours' drive from Melbourne, contained an avalanche of fresh information and allegations. Television, radio and print journalists, documentary-makers, true crime novelists and podcast creators filled the surroundings of Latrobe Valley Courthouse from early in the morning until closing each day to catch a glimpse of those attending. Erin, 50, looked at times emotional as she sat in the back of the courtroom, watching everything unfold. The prosecution spent more than three hours explaining to the jury the events before, during and after the lunch, on Tuesday, and then detailed some of Erin's alleged lies. Crown prosecutor Nanette Rogers SC alleged she lied about becoming sick after the lunch to cover up what she had done and about giving her children leftovers the next day. She claimed Erin got the guests to visit her home for lunch using a "deliberately false" claim that she had cancer and wanted advice on how to break it to her children. Erin had lied about where the mushrooms inside the beef Wellington were purchased, an Asian grocer, and then about disposing of a dehydrator "to conceal what she had done", Rogers said. Erin's defence team then admitted to a number of these lies. This included that she had misled police about whether she had ever foraged for mushrooms. "She did forage for mushrooms," Mandy told the jury on Tuesday. "Just so that we make that clear, she denies that she ever deliberately sought out death cap mushrooms." He said she admitted she lied to police about getting rid of the dehydrator, which was found dumped at Koonwarra Transfer Station about five days after the mushroom meal. Prosecutors said the Sunbeam appliance, a photo of which was shown to the jury, had Erin's fingerprints on it and forensic testing found it had contained death cap mushrooms. But the accused triple murderer's barrister said what happened at the lunch was "a tragedy and a terrible accident" and she did not deliberately serve poisoned food. "The defence case is that she didn't intend to cause anyone any harm on that day," Mandy told the jury on Tuesday. The trial before Justice Christopher Beale continues on Monday.
