By Violet Li
Hampton Park locals are frustrated at an absence of translation services for its multicultural community regarding the planning information for the proposed waste transfer station.
Star News reported last year that communities were left devastated, disappointed and angered after Casey Council approved the proposed waste transfer station next to the Hallam Road landfill in November. Shortly after, community organisation Lynbrook Residents Association (LRA) launched a parliamentary petition to request the State Government to overturn the planning approval.
As volunteers doorknocked to urge the residents to sign the petition, they discovered that many multicultural community members were aware of the planning application, largely due to a lack of materials and notices in alternative languages.
Socheata, a local who migrated from Cambodia, said she found out the news from her neighbour instead of from Casey Council.
She was very unhappy about the proposal as she was concerned that it would affect her property values, and most importantly, the local environment.
She also realised a lot of people from the local Cambodian community did not know about the planning proposal and ever since, she has been helping with the translation.
She said a lot of people refused to sign the petition at first because they didn’t understand the situation, but after she well explained the proposal and what it would mean for the community, people were unanimously eager to sign. She also said a lot of people were afraid to stand out against the proposal because “it was a government thing”.
According to the 2021 ABS census, about 72 per cent of the people in Hampton Park have both parents born overseas.
Socheata said the area was demographically diverse, with communities of Cambodian, Vietnamese, Afghani, and Indian.
Sue Lanigan, a concerned local, said it would be really good to get the planning information translated into different languages so people in the area could make a fair and reasonable assessment rather than having it thrown onto them.
“We’re still putting the information out there because there’s a lot of people who don’t know,” she said.
“And even if we can get them to start asking questions, hopefully, they will have enough information to ask questions. You can’t ask questions if you don’t know what you’re asking about.”
Sue believed it should be people like Socheata doing the translation work for the community, instead, it should be Casey Council.
“I’m so grateful to these ladies for walking around for hours and doing all the translating. But they shouldn’t have to be doing it. The council should be doing it,” she said.
“They should be recognising the nationalities in this area, and they should be making sure that they’re fully informed.
“There needs to be a better way of communicating with people.
“You can’t keep taking advantage of people that you invite into this country to help support us, and you do this to them.”
Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) Victoria is assessing a Development Licence for the proposed waste transfer station. It will hold a consultation conference with the date pending.
LRA has written to EPA and requested translated materials to make the consultation accessible to all residents.
