A toxic cocktail of chemicals and herbicides has been washed into Melbourne's Yarra River, killing trees and creating a "public health risk".
An internal incident and hazard summary report on Parks Victoria operations between January to October 2015 has revealed toxic chemicals were flowing into the Yarra from a wash-down facility in the Warrandyte State Park, located next to popular swimming spot Pound Bend.
The report states that the "wash-down facility used to pressure wash vehicles, to triple rinse chemical containers and to mix/fill herbicides for use in the park" does not meet "any legal requirements" and would face "serious fines if the EPA [Environment Protection Authority] was informed".
The report, which was released to the Victoria opposition under freedom of information laws, also states that operators who manually removed the waste were exposed to "unknown chemicals".
Senior Minister Jacinta Allan said Environment Minister Lisa Neville had spoken to Parks Victoria CEO Bill Jackson about the testing arrangements put in place.
"The minister has been very clear of her expectations that the EPA, in these instances or any other, needs to be notified and the appropriate testing arrangements need put in place," Ms Allan told reporters.
She said the washing down was stopped last June after the problems were identified in April 2015, which she attributed in part to the "challenging" period for Parks Victoria due to budget cuts under the last government.
"The former Liberal government really took the knife to the Parks Victoria budget, cutting around $88 million from the organisation and sacking up to one in 10 of its workforce," she said.
Ms Allan said people could continue swimming safely near Pound Bend and that results from further tests would soon be available to the community.
Opposition environment spokesman Brad Battin slammed the government for keeping the report secret for so long.
"Daniel Andrews' government had this secret report and tried to keep it from the community," he told reporters on Sunday,
"The failure to report this putting the community at risk was just to protect themselves - it should have gone directly to the EPA."
