Sense prevails! Tips are essential

A win for common sense!

Over the weekend I got in touch with Matt Kean the Environment Minister about the untenable rules that saw tips close across the electorate for people without kerbside collection.

Today the Minister has got back to me with the good news that the NSW Government has acted on my request and tips will be allowed to open as an essential service.

Their full advice to me:

Taking waste to a landfill would be a “reasonable excuse” for a person to leave their home.

Under the Public Health (COVID-19 Additional Restrictions for Delta Outbreak) Order (No 2) 2021, everyone in NSW must currently stay at home unless they have a reasonable excuse. For regional NSW, a reasonable excuse relevantly includes obtaining goods and services for the needs of the household, or for other household purposes. Goods and services must be obtained locally unless the services are not reasonably available locally.

NSW Health notes that “locally” means within the local government area in which the person resides or, if in another local government area, no further than 5 kilometres from the person’s home and not in an area of concern. However, if in regional NSW the nearest landfill was not in the LGA and was more than 5 kilometres away, residents in regional NSW would be permitted under the current Order to take their waste to a landfill and even if the landfill is located further than 5 kilometres from their home.