UPDATE - Help us put an end to this unfair treatment!

It’s been over a year since we last updated you all on the unfair treatment of our business by the EPA. 

What’s happened? 

After months of stalling by the EPA, our appeal on the closure of our business was finally heard by the Land and Environment Court in June.  We are expecting a decision in the coming days.  

We already know that two independent environmental experts agreed:

1.     there has been NO HARM TO OUR SURROUNDING ENVIRONMENT

2.     our operations are VERY LOW RISK, and 

3.     there are NO REASONS WHY OUR BUSINESS NEEDED TO BE CLOSED for the past  14 months. 

We already knew this.  

That’s why we wrote to the EPA multiple times to provide information and explain that any closure would not be legal. 

The EPA knew this too. 

That’s why they ignored all our correspondence for a 5-month period between when they provided a draft notice for closure, and the day they closed us down. 

It has cost us over $1.5 million, our reputation, health and wellbeing to get the finding we knew all along.   

Over the past 14 months, our business has almost ground to a halt. 

We’ve lost our customers. Local people have lost their jobs. Our blood, sweat and tears have gone into defending ourselves against relentless attacks by the EPA – including the attempt to press criminal charges. The EPA has wasted hundreds of thousands of dollars of public money on trying to ‘save face’ and find anything it can to hurt us. 

Astoundingly, there’s no compensation for this harassment, maladministration and corruption. 

EPA officers have openly boasted to us about their ‘unlimited legal budgets’. They know we do not have an unlimited budget to defend my family business. Sadly, the Land and Environment Court does not have the power to order any compensation in this case. 

Meanwhile, the EPA continues to turn a blind eye to pollution and environmental harm from other sites in NSW.

The immense EPA taxpayer funded resources devoted to attacking JET Group and me personally, should instead be directed to addressing the many sites that have been, and continue to pollute the environment.  The EPA is aware of multiple operators in NSW who continue to pollute, causing significant harm to the environment, harming wildlife and endangering human health, and the EPA continues to turn a blind eye.  

Your support has made a huge difference – triggering an internal review.

We shared this petition NSW Minister for the Environment, with Penny Sharpe, in August 2023, which prompted an internal EPA investigation into allegations of serious misconduct by EPA officers, examining where EPA actions have not demonstrated effective use of EPA resources, did not provide appropriate responses to requests for information, and did not make good decisions, leading to unreasonable outcomes for the environment, and the community.

They’ve been stalling it for almost a year. 

There is still no meaningful progress or outcome on this investigation. The EPA keeps stalling, missing its own deadlines for updates, and isn’t following its own policies. 

The EPA CEO has finally acknowledged the issue with ICAC.

They finally confirmed that the EPA CEO has been briefed. They also confirmed that he has referred the matter to ICAC for information – The Independent Commission for Corruption.

Misconduct and Maladministration investigations – further stalled.

We suspect they’re waiting for media attention from the court case to die down before they release any formal findings around EPA staff misconduct.  They’ve extended their previous deadline and promised the formal report by ‘the end of August’.

WE STILL NEED YOUR HELP:

1.     Sharing and signing this petition will provide further pressure on ICAC and the NSW Ombudsman to investigate the EPA’s conduct.

2.     Drop off your green waste to our site in Toronto when we reopen for business

3.     Purchase your landscape supplies from us – our full range is available on our website