LEAD reports from the Far West and Western Health Districts will no longer be made public in Broken Hill City Council papers because bureaucrats don’t want the media reporting on them.
The Broken Hill Lead Reference Group, or BHLRG, is chaired by Broken Hill City Council and is a collaborative effort of companies and community members who work with, and have an interest in lead management in the region.
Subsequently, the BHLRG developed the Broken Hill Lead Reference Group Integrated Strategy with the aim of providing a forum for information exchange and to guide activity relating to lead issues.
Previously reports had been given to the reference group and those were published in the group’s report.
In May, Broken Hill Times reported almost 50 per cent of Broken Hill children’s lead levels, between the age of one and five, are above accepted guidelines.
In last month’s Broken Hill Lead Reference Group’s report to council documents showed Far West Local Health District staff had requested all reports be removed.
On May 14, an email from Melissa Welsh at the FWLHD asked that reports attached to the Lead Reference Group’s minutes submitted to BHCC be removed.
Then on May 20, another email from Ms Welsh requested the removal of reports from the agenda and a general business item to discuss reports attached to minutes and submission to council meetings.
On May 23, a further email from email from Ms Welsh again requested that the reports not be shared.
At the last BHCC meeting, the Western Local Health District (WLHD) had no report to offer councillors.
“(WHLD’s) Linda Mason advised that a report will not be provided to this meeting due to the minutes and reports being made public on council’s website,” a municipal document said.
“Information was pulled from those reports and reported in the local paper.
“No report will be provided verbal or otherwise, but happy to discuss alternative arrangements.”
At BHCC’s July meeting, Cr Bob Algate addressed concerns about no having data on lead levels in the city.
“The public want to know if our lead numbers are improving,” he said.
“The FWLHD aren’t going to provide the information because it found its way into the local newspaper.”
Deputy Mayor Cr Jim Hickey said people were entitled to know what was happening.
Cr Darriea Turley asked if it was possible to discuss the alternate arrangements Ms Mason mentioned.
The meeting was advised Mayor Cr Tom Kennedy said municipal general manager Jay Nankivell will have discussions around this.
A FWLHD spokesperson said the district publishes an annual report.
“(The) report which highlights the importance of regular blood lead level screening to keep local children safe,” the spokesperson said.
“The annual Broken Hill Lead Program Report provides in-depth data statistical analyses and interpretations of key findings which are released by the district and shared widely with all stakeholders and the public.
“This annual report provides the blood lead levels recorded for the past year from regular screening and provides the appropriate contextual and background information.”
The spokesperson said the quarterly reports to council require analysis to be interpreted correctly.
“The quarterly reports provide summaries of the analyses of aggregated screening results that are used to inform council meetings,” the spokesperson said.
“Unlike the annual report, they require further analysis and explanation to be interpreted correctly.”
The spokesperson said advice and information regarding blood lead levels in Broken Hill can be found at the LeadSmart website while in person access to healthcare workers could be found at Broken Hill Child and Family Health service or Maari Ma.
A range of New South Wales Health resources including factsheets, response protocols and resources to help prevent and reduce elevated blood lead levels can be found at health.nsw.gov.au.
The WLHD were also contacted for comment.
