RE: Serious inaction on the processing of Waverley Council's motion to eliminate Glyphosate use by the council.

I would like to draw your attention to a serious liability & public health issue facing Waverley Council and our residents. Currently there are 1000's of legal cases pending in the US against Bayer the manufacturer of Glyphosate. Billions of dollars have already been awarded to grounds staff and residents that have contracted cancer from handling the product as many Waverley Council staff do on a regular basis.   

Currently two Sydney Councils have banned the use of Glyphosate: Fairfield and Georges River. All local councils in France have banned the use of Glyphosate in their public spaces. The IARC (international agency for research on cancer) has declared that glyphosate is a probable carcinogen. However Waverley Council has made no progress after passing a motion to eliminate glyphosate more than 9 months ago.

On the 27th September 2018 Council unanimously passed a motion to engage an independent expert to "....to ensure we eliminate, or at least minimise, the use of glyphosate and are delivering a best practice and sustainable weed management solution that is an alternative, non- glyphosate substance to protects our employees, residents, and the local environment."

http://waverley.infocouncil.biz/Open/2018/09/CM_20180927_MIN_467.PDF

Incredibly it took 4 months for a tender to be sent out by council in late Jan 2019  that did not represent the intention of the motion which was to "eliminate glyphosate'. The poorly written tender only emphasised a review and audit of the current pesticide usage. 

In early Feb 2019 I called a meeting with Emily Scott - Director Waverley Renewal and Sam Mcguiness Executive Manager Sustainable Waverley, who was responsible for writing the original tender. An agreement was made at the meeting that the tender would be rewritten to best represent the intention of the council motion which was to "eliminate glyphosate!"

Finally in late Feb 2019 a consultant was engaged to complete a report. A draft of the report was only submitted to council this week by NHG Environmental, 4 months later!

In summary the time to take action on the council's motion to "eliminate Glyphosate" has been negligently long and unprofessional. It's time to take action and pass a motion at Waverley's July Council meeting "To Ban Glyphosate use by Waverley Council".

Thank you for your action on this very serious health threat to Waverley Council residents, Waverley Council staff and as a liability concern for Waverley Council.

Regards,

David Walsman
Bronte resident
Member Bronte Public School P&C Association