By Amelia McGuire
Castle Hill MP Ray Williams has accused the NSW Department of Education of “severely compromising” the health of 2000 people connected to Castle Hill High School after it falsely declared in 2016 that the school did not have asbestos.
While the department made efforts to correct the mistake in 2020, it has reportedly failed to answer questions from the school community.
Castle Hill MP (inset) says he became aware of the asbestos result at the school last Thursday.Credit:Facebook, Nine News
The department advised the Castle Hill community in 2016 that the school had tested negative for asbestos when it had, in fact, tested positive.
At the time, the department acknowledged the mistake but said there was a “low or negligible” risk of exposure to airborne hazardous material.
In a statement on Tuesday afternoon, Williams said: “The teachers and parents of CHHS have made numerous complaints regarding Asbestos to the Department of Education over several years which still remain unanswered.”
He said he became aware of the incorrect asbestos test report last Thursday when he was presented with the positive 2016 asbestos test result.
Minister for Education Sarah Mitchell said in a statement on Tuesday that she became aware of the alleged asbestos mismanagement last month.
“These are serious allegations that are the subject of investigation by both the Department of Education’s Professional and Ethical Standards unit and SafeWork NSW,” she said.
A spokesperson from the department said it was confident there were no current asbestos issues at the school.
In 2020 and 2021, the school underwent major remediation work after the department acknowledged there was asbestos in the roof.
“All air monitoring undertaken at the time returned results below or equal to the minimum detection limit (0.01 fibres/mL).
“Testing was completed to ensure the areas were fully remediated, and clearance certificates issued before the area was open to students and staff, in strict accordance with SafeWork NSW protocols,” the spokesperson said.
Williams said the department had dodged the school community in its demands for answers.
“The department has been sitting on this for the past seven years. That’s an entire cohort that’s gone through year 7 to 12 without knowing asbestos was on the premises,” he said.
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