Greens MP David Shoebridge said a meeting between himself, Greens Senator-elect Lee Rhiannon, the party’s candidate for Maitland John Brown and residents on Saturday, reinforced the case for an air quality control system for the region.

They criticised the government’s lack of action on the issue.

The meeting discussed the health risks arising from the Rutherford industrial area, the coal mining industry, burgeoning traffic pollution and the problems residents faced accessing health services.

Mr Shoebridge described the situation as “Dickensian-style health problems.”

“Maitland not only has a case, but a compelling case,” he told the Mercury yesterday.

“What we have taken away [from Saturday’s visit] is a renewed sense of the urgency of the matter in Maitland.

“These people have been campaigning about it for years.

“The government knows what needs to be done – there needs to be a public air monitoring network paid for by the coal industry.”

Mr Brown criticised Hunter Minister Jodi McKay about delays in installing better air quality monitoring systems for the region, nine months after they were first announced.

“Maitland residents suffer an ugly cocktail of air and noise pollution from local industry, coal mining and uncovered coal trucks and this government has failed to tackle the problem,” he said.

“It’s time the minister explained the delay in the implementation of this monitoring network and what action her government would take if she discovered what we all know: pollution levels in the region are unacceptable.”

Senator-elect Rhiannon said Rutherford anti-stink campaigners should “have hung up their hats long ago, but the decade long problem has not been properly addressed by the NSW government”.