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Lead contamination exceeding national thresholds has been discovered in soil at 10 childcare centres across Broken Hill but only four have been cleaned up as authorities leave remediation decisions in the hands of the centres’ operators.
New sampling data shows the toxic metal, linked to lowered IQ and behavioural difficulties in children, was discovered at nearly 10 times the national health investigation threshold at one of the centres.
It remains unclear whether all parents at the affected centres are aware of the findings of the samplings, which were carried out by the NSW Environment Protection Authority between 2015 and 2025.
In response to questioning by Greens MLC Cate Faehrmann in parliament on Tuesday, NSW EPA chief executive Tony Chappel admitted his agency had not directly informed parents about the results.
“It’s really appropriate for the operator to engage with the parents and the staff. It’s their obligation,” he said.
Chappel was grilled about why only four sites had been remediated.
“We offer this testing on an opt-in basis,” he said. “Then it’s up to the owner or operator of the facility if they want to proceed with further action.
“These are complimentary services offered to operators of these facilities who are obligated to ensure the safety of their staff and other people there.”
Documents tabled by the agency to parliament said that, in some cases, remediation wasn’t carried out because the testing was “only for information purposes”.
The discovery has again heaped pressure on the state government over the pace of its response to the lead contamination crisis in the outback mining town, built on one of the world’s largest deposits of silver, zinc and lead.
The Premier’s office, which is leading a whole-of-government response, did not respond to questions before deadline.
According to the World Health Organisation, there is no known safe blood lead concentration, and even low levels of exposure may be associated with decreased intelligence and behavioural difficulties in children.
The data was released, with the childcare centres’ names redacted, in response to a series of questions-on-notice by Faehrmann.
She slammed the government’s failure to remediate all the centres as “a gross dereliction of duty”.
“Imagine if the yard of a daycare centre in Sydney was found to have high lead levels and the parents were kept in the dark? There would be a god-almighty outcry,” she said.
“You have to ask the question, why are Broken Hill’s children deemed less important in the government’s eyes?”
The Herald this year revealed that a recommendation to possibly relocate childcare centres, playgrounds and schools in Broken Hill at high risk of lead exposure was removed from a draft version of a report by NSW Chief Scientist Hugh Durrant-Whyte.
Durrant-Whyte said lowering dangerously high levels of lead in the blood of Broken Hill’s children was an “urgent public health priority” but progress on the issue had slowed.
Data from last year shows 35 per cent of children in Broken Hill aged one to five, and 56 per cent of Aboriginal children of the same age, have blood lead levels above national health investigative guidelines.
A report by UNICEF described lead as a “potent neurotoxin that causes irreparable harm to children’s brains”.
Young children are particularly vulnerable because they absorb up to five times more than adults from the same ingested dose. Their frequent hand-to-mouth behaviours increase their risk.
The National Environment Protection Council has considered those behaviours in setting a health investigation level of 300 milligrams per kilogram (mg/kg) for residential sites with accessible soil, including daycare centres, preschools and primary schools.
Exceedances trigger a further assessment of lead exposure risks to determine the potential need for mitigation action.
A NSW EPA spokeswoman said exceedances do not mean an area cannot be used by the public and children safely with risk management such as handwashing.
Of 19 childcare centres, family daycares and preschools sampled, 10 were above the health investigation level.
The highest reading was 2933 mg/kg, nearly 10 times the threshold. It remains unclear whether that centre opted for remediation works.
The NSW EPA spokeswoman said testing was offered on an opt-in basis and, under existing protocols, landowners must consent to testing.
“All sites that tested above the 300 mg/kg investigation trigger threshold and chose the option of remediation received this work,” she said.
The spokeswoman said all daycares, preschools and schools were provided with their sampling results and an assessment report, and were responsible for communicating directly with parents for privacy reasons.
Only one school out of 10 in Broken Hill had requested testing in the past six years, and was sampled in 2020 and 2025.
Lead concentrations above the investigation threshold were detected in the first round of sampling but not the most recent test.
Asked by Faehrmann whether remediation was provided at the school, and families informed of the results, the EPA said its role was “to provide advice relating to the results of testing that was undertaken, including any recommended actions to remediate the identified risks”.
The EPA also carried out soil sampling at 10 public places across Broken Hill, with six of those exceeding the 600 mg/kg health investigation level for public open spaces and parks.
The highest concentration was 109 times the investigation threshold, at 65,600 milligrams per kilogram.
The EPA confirmed remediation had been provided at three sites, with signage erected to inform the public clean-up works had been carried out.
The spokeswoman said average blood lead levels in Broken Hill children had dropped from 16.7 micrograms per decilitre in 1991 to 3.8 micrograms per decilitre in 2025 but acknowledged they remained “unacceptably high”.
She said the government was spending $37.3 million to implement the recommendations of the Chief Scientist’s report, including doubling the number of homes remediated each year.
She said the most at-risk environments were targeted, which was typically the family home.
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