Liverpool West Public School shut for two weeks, Mardi Gras Fair Day cancelled at Victoria Park after asbestos found in recycled mulch

Some 700 students will be relocated from Liverpool West Public School after more recycled mulch was discovered. (ABC News: Gregory Heap)

A school in south-west Sydney will remain shut for at least another two weeks after “much more mulch” potentially contaminated with asbestos was discovered.

Education Minister Prue Car on Wednesday said extensive remediation and excavation work was required for the safety of students and staff at Liverpool West Public School.

Some 700 preschool and primary school children, including those with special needs, will relocate to Gulyangarri Public School as a temporary measure.

“This is an extremely disappointing situation we find ourselves in,” Ms Car said.

“There is so much more mulch in the garden bed than we thought there was previously.

“The mulch goes quite deep.

“Even though the specifications, as I understand, are that mulch is supposed to go on-top of soil, there is quite a deep level of only mulch.”

Chief executive of the NSW Environment Protection Authority (EPA), Tony Chappel, said the asbestos was bonded, and would not pose a problem if left undisturbed.

“There are obviously implications with children, they do disturb material, which is one reason why we moved so quickly and cautiously in this case,” he said.

The school was identified as a priority site last Friday afternoon, with the toxic chemical discovered over the weekend.

The playground where the mulch was used opened on December 8, and has been open and used for about a month.

The EPA has launched a major criminal investigation into how the material became contaminated.

Fair Day cancelled due to asbestos concerns

Earlier today, organisers of the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras announced the festival’s Fair Day event this Sunday would be cancelled due to asbestos concerns.

The event was set to take place in Victoria Park in Camperdown, where mulch containing bonded asbestos was discovered on Monday.

Fair Day is one of the Mardi Gras festival’s largest events, attended by over 70,000 people each year.

The City of Sydney said that after further investigations, it has become clear that an event of that scale cannot take place in the park this weekend.

“This is an incredibly disappointing decision, as Fair Day is a pivotal part of the Mardi Gras calendar. But we have to put the safety of our community first,” Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore said.

City of Sydney CEO Monica Barone said the traces of asbestos were found at a “number of sites” around Victoria Park.

“Over the last few days … we racked our brain for all of the possible mitigation plans that we could put in place,” she said.

“But late last night we all agreed that we couldn’t really clean that park to a satisfactory level in time for the event.”

Organisers also said it was a difficult decision.

“It breaks our heart to see this Sunday not go ahead, but given the safety concerns we must put our communities’ wellbeing first,” Mardi Gras CEO Gil Beckwith said.

The detection of asbestos in the inner west park comes amid a wider investigation into contaminated mulch instigated by the discovery of bonded asbestos in the newly opened Rozelle Parklands.

The City of Sydney has taped off 32 parks across the council area where it believes contaminated mulch may have been used.

The City says testing at those sites could take several weeks.

“We have to get the testing done by people who are qualified to do the testing,” Ms Barone said.

“So we’ll move as quickly as we can, which is what we’re doing.”

Asbestos was also found at Belmore Park in Haymarket and Harmony Park in Surry Hills.

Transport for New South Wales announced yesterday afternoon that bonded asbestos was detected at a Parramatta Light Rail project site in Telopea in Sydney’s west.

‘Looking closely at the whole supply chain’

Mr Chappel said all the contaminated mulch found so far originated with the same supplier, Greenlife Resource Recovery Facility (GRRF).

“There’s still multiple lines of inquiry open so I do need to be very mindful not to prejudice that investigation,” he said.

“But the mulch supplier here is common across these positive detections.”

GRFF said in a statement to the ABC that it was “confident” its products were delivered free of asbestos, and were complying with the EPA.

“The company has no visibility of, and does not control, how its products are used on sites once delivered to the construction site,” the statement read.

“It is unreasonable to hold GRRF responsible for how its products are used once delivered to contractors on a construction site.”

Mr Chappel said the EPA is looking at mulch supplied over the last 12 to 18 months.

“It’s very pleasing our testing showed no contamination at the Greenlife site a few weeks ago but the focus of our investigation here is really the product that was produced and has been applied over that previous period,” he said.

“We are looking closely at the whole supply chain – that involves multiple parties, it involves multiple contexts.”