“The Kwinana industrial area — and whether you agree with it or not — is the premier industrial area in WA bar none,” he said. “So the two settlements — Wattleup and Hope Valley — were downwind from the industries of Kwinana ... and basically, if I can give you a very short version, there shouldn't be any residential development there at all." Not only was it 15 minutes from the city and 10 minutes to the beach, Wattleup was also built on prime industrial land - smack bang inside the Kwinana Buffer Zone. Wattleup sits partially within the buffer zone. Credit:Hannah Barry The buffer zone exists to manage industrial emissions to maintain a healthy air quality for those working and living in the area, and was brought in when it was found the Kwinana industrial area had pumped out over 300 tonnes of sulphur dioxide back in the 1970s.

As a result now acknowledged by the Department of Health and the Environmental Protection Authority, living in Hope Valley and Wattleup exposed residents to potentially toxic air quality that significantly heightened their chances of ill health. According to a 2017 health report, Wattleup and the surrounding Kwinana area has in fact experienced one of the highest rates of colorectal cancer deaths, positive results from bowel cancer screening, and lung cancer death in Perth in recent years. "When we were clearing out Wattleup, we found huge clusters of cancers that were three and four times the cancer rates anywhere else in Western Australia," Mr Kierath said. "There was maps of the pollution and Wattleup and Hope Valley were right smack in those areas. At the time the development plan was examined in parliament, former member for Cockburn Bill Thomas publicly opposed sections of the act on the basis residents should not be forced from their homes - and if they were, to receive a fair acquistion price from LandCorp.

The last of Wattleup's family-owned businesses still based in the area. Credit:Hannah Barry But behind closed doors, Mr Kierath said the pair had conversations where Mr Thomas said he understood the importance of getting residents out of the area. More than 20 years on, Mr Thomas says openly his opinion aligns with Mr Kierath's. "Wattleup quite frankly should have never been built in the first place. It was built on prime industrial land, and the way it's positioned to the north west, it was in the middle of winds coming from the Kwinana industrial port," he said. "It's a planning blight. People should have got out earlier."

So why are 24 residents still sitting inside the ticking time bomb? A potentially deadly wait Some Wattleup residents believe the wait for Landcorp to buy-out properties has put its population further at risk health impacts, and are currently trying to quantify just how many residents have experienced health effects due to living in the suburb through a survey. "My neighbour over the road ... died about two years ago now," Wattleup resident Jim Wade said. "He tried to sell it on to set his family up because he had terminal cancer and Landcorp wouldn't buy his place.

"His wife is stuck there. She's trying to sell. She's got it on the market, but who's going to buy it?" Resident Eva Ricci said she remembers questioning government and its agencies repeatedly about health concerns from living in the Wattleup area when she noticed the significant amount of her neighbours developing terminal illnesses. "There were definitely clusters of cancer, but nobody took that on board," she said. "There was absolutely no acknowledgement at the time that [health concerns] were the reason we were being moved out." A pipe with a sign reading 'caustic soda' runs along a jetty at the Alcoa Corp in Kwinana. Credit:Carla Gottgens

Mr Kierath's admission is the first confirmation Ms Ricci has had in 20 years that her concerns were valid, but she is now worried his statements could have broader implications for those still stuck living in Wattleup. "If it should never have been built, it's now not just the townsite, but also now a whole periphery of people who have been exposed to those same health risks over the years," she said. Fellow resident Kelly Vidovich agreed, and said there was no reason residents should still be living in the area if there were ongoing health concerns. She pointed to a new development being built in nearby Hammond Park. "If moving out for health reasons was the case, why are these new subdivisions being built so bloody close?" she said.

A section of land near Munster up for development. Credit:Harcourt "That's even of more concern than the residents that are left here." A rock and a hard place Despite admissions residents could still be exposed to potentially harmful air quality, the process of getting locals out of Wattleup continues to stall. LandCorp has been charged with buying out the properties, but it's understood the authority experienced problems due to the limited funds it could draw from in order to pay out those sitting on rural properties.

The most current figures regarding property aquisition date back to 2010. "LandCorp completed the acquisition of approximately 459 properties in 2010, which included 142 houses in Hope Valley and 317 houses in Wattleup," LandCorp acting general manager Matt Read said. All single residential town site properties in Hope Valley and Wattleup have been purchased, and 53 rural properties were also bought out due to "hardship". LandCorp said 24 rural property owners still remain on its hardship register. It currently has the funds available to purchase just three.

Member for Kwinana Roger Cook said to his knowledge, the hardship register remained so long after eight years because funding had "dried up" under the Barnett government and was never replenished. "Having kicked off the process way back when, it has simply become stalled, and as a result of that, there are people still left there who can neither sell their properties or get out," he said. "LandCorp's not going to buy them out, but they can't develop their properties either because it's still subject to the overall master planning process. So it's really quite unfair for those people." But LandCorp continues to remain steadfast in that it will only purchase properties using its government funding that fit the "hardship clause" set out in the act. Former lands minister Terry Redman said during his four years involved with authorities between 2013 and 2017, the struggle for hardship and acquisition funding appeared to be the main reason the development had stalled.

"There was certainly no plan by the Barnett government to slow or stop the progress of Latitude 32 development," he said. Many properties in the zone have been locked away after Landcorp purchased them. Credit:Hannah Barry "Advice at the time was that Landcorp had a set budget to fund exit strategies for remaining residents, which of course got used up every year." But Mr Kierath, himself a former minister overseeing land throughout the early 2000s, said the authority's lack of funding was a “weak” excuse to leave residents stuck in Wattleup. "I would have expected them to acquire as many properties as they could," he said.

Mr Kierath said once plans ticked over a five-year mark and a negotiation hadn't been settled, LandCorp should have begun the process of issuing resumption notices in order to ensure the plan stays on track. A resumption notice warns residents the relevant authority intends to resume ownership of the property, and a landowner does not have to move out straight away. LandCorp was issued the power under the Hope Valley and Wattleup Redevelopment Act. “It's pretty weak to say we don't have enough money to buy up the remaining landowners," Mr Kierath said. Eva Ricci, outside her old home in Wattleup. She moved from the home 11 years ago. Credit:Hannah Barry

Ms Ricci said it was becoming almost impossible for Wattleup owners to claim hardship. "You have to prove that you are very, very ill, bloody near death, or financially incumbent to make the hardship register, and then they'd screw you down even harder," she said. "We sold for $328,000. To get a comparable property for a house that was nowhere near the same size we had to pay $760,000. "We had to go into debt. We were debt-free and we had to go into debt. It cost us a fortune. We couldn't find anywhere with the amount of money we had." And to add insult to injury, residents could only sit idly by as West Mundijong was tapped to become the new link between the inner harbour and outer harbour back in June.

"I feel like we've been forgotten," Ms Ricci said. "They've bowled us down like we didn't exist. "They wiped the houses off the face of the earth on the pretext people would forget about it - that they would forget we were ever there." The fight for their future Residents are continuing the fight for their future, and local landowner Brian Vidovich made his latest attempt to find out more back in June. He wrote to the premier's office:

"I again draw your attention to the government’s in-action, and failure at a duty of care, regarding hardship funding for the Hope Valley Wattleup Redevelopment Area Act, known as Latitude 32. "Correspondence I sent to you on the May 11 2017, outlined some of the issues experienced by those living in Latitude 32. "You acknowledged the letter and passed it on to your planning minister Rita Saffioti. It has been more than 12 months and there still has been no pro-active or decisive response from you or members of your cabinet. In response to his letter, from the Premier's office: "Dear Mr Vidovich,

"Thank you for your email to the premier ... the matter you have raised falls within the portfolio responsibility of the Minister for Lands, Hon Rita Saffioti MLA, and therefore your correspondence has been forwarded to that office for consideration and any appropriate response." Mr Vidovich has still not received a reply to his letter, but Ms Saffioti provided a statement to WAtoday regarding the status of the development. Rita Saffioti. Credit:Emma Young “We are very sympathetic to residential landowners who feel in limbo due to the long-term plans for the Latitude 32 industrial development,” she said. “There was some initial funding in the 2018/19 budget to progress further property acquisitions from owners facing hardship.