The NSW Environment Minister has welcomed news allegations of illegal waste dumping raised by the ABC's Four Corners program have been referred to the state's corruption watchdog by the Environment Protection Authority (EPA).
The program broadcast allegations of corruption in the waste industry and alleged the EPA failed to act to stop illegal waste dumping.
It exposed an organised network of waste transporting and freighting companies sending waste by road and by rail to Queensland to avoid paying the high New South Wales landfill levy of $138 per tonne.
The EPA said its director of waste management, Steve Beaman, had taken four weeks' leave after the ABC broadcast a recording of him joking about the interstate transfer of rubbish to Queensland.
In that damning recording, he is heard mocking the waste-tracking system, much to the amusement of industry representatives.
Environment Minister Gabrielle Upton said the referral to the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) was an appropriate course of action, but the Queensland Premier could stop the practice of interstate rubbish transfers with a simple fix.
"All she has to do is reintroduce the waste levy and this issue would go away," Ms Upton said.
"It has gone on for three years."
The Queensland Newman government abolished the state's landfill levy in 2014. Since then, the interstate waste trade has flourished.
It is cheaper to truck waste to Queensland than it is to dispose of it and pay the levy in the state where it is generated.
Queensland has become known as "the dumping capital of Australia".
The Queensland Government has since announced that from next week there will be a crackdown on heavy vehicle inspections to stop illegal waste being brought in to the state.
