Western Australian officers trained to deal with large scale oil spills will leave Perth this evening to join the response to the fuel spill off the Queensland coast.  

Department for Planning and Infrastructure Manager of Safety and Environment Captain David Heppingstone said three WA officers, who are all members of the Department managed State Response Team, would travel to Brisbane and would be deployed as team leaders in shoreline clean-up in the affected areas.
 
“The Australian Maritime Safety Authority, which is the national body responsible for coordinating Australia’s response to large scale marine oil spills, has requested the State’s assistance in line with arrangements under the National Plan to Combat Pollution of the Sea by Oil and other Noxious and Hazardous Substances ,” Captain Heppingstone said.

Captain Heppingstone said the skills of the WA officers were highly regarded and the opportunity to be involved in a large scale operation of this nature was invaluable.
 
“The officers, two employed by the Department and one from the Department of Fisheries, were expected to remain in Queensland for one week,” Captain Heppingstone said.

The State Response Team comprises trained officers from the Department, other Government agencies, port authorities and industry who are able to provide a front line response to a marine oil spill.

For more information about marine oil spill response in WA visit www.dpi.wa.gov.au/imarine 

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