Liverpool West Public School to remain closed for weeks as asbestos mulch investigation continues

A Sydney school will remain closed for weeks - as the fallout from asbestos contamination of mulch at sites across the city continues to grow.

Transcript

00:00 I can only imagine the headache this must be causing for parents, students and teachers.

00:06 They're going to be, they will have to stay away from this campus for at least two weeks.

00:10 They'll be going to a nearby public school, Gooliangari Public School, that's about 10

00:15 minutes from here.

00:16 Now this will no doubt be a huge logistical challenge as there are about 700 students

00:22 that go to Liverpool West Public School.

00:25 Now the issue of asbestos here is bigger than originally thought.

00:28 Now that's why they've had to extend that clearance period out to at least two weeks.

00:34 So students and staff won't be able to come back to this school until that two week period.

00:39 Now Peter Tai from the Asbestos and Dust Diseases Research Institute spoke to News Breakfast

00:45 earlier this morning and said that asbestos will continue to be a problem around the city

00:50 of Sydney unless governments shift their focus more towards eradication.

00:55 We have a huge legacy of asbestos containing material.

00:59 We were one of the high users of asbestos and what we really need to do is now focus

01:05 on eradication.

01:06 And I think governments in all jurisdictions need to come up with a process of where we

01:11 remove this out of our built environment because it's Roselle, somewhere in Sydney today, it

01:18 could be anywhere in Australia tomorrow unless we start to act on this material.

01:24 Now Lorna, the company that has been supplying the mulch to many of these sites has denied

01:29 any wrongdoing but the state's environment watchdog says investigations are continuing.

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