NSW Premier Barry O'Farrell says he's "stunned" that a man who dumped truckloads of waste containing asbestos in Sydney's southwest escaped a prison sentence.
Dib Abdallah Hanna was on Thursday handed a three-month suspended sentence in the NSW Land and Environment Court for contempt of court for failing to follow a court order not to dump asbestos and other waste.
Hanna, 37, dumped 80 tonnes of waste found to contain asbestos after forcing entry through a fence at a property on Henry Lawson Drive at Picnic Point in April.
The tip truck owner, who pleaded guilty to the charge, was also put on a three-month good behaviour bond by the court.
On Wednesday, Mr O'Farrell said he was "stunned" by the sentence.
"I don't understand why a judge of the Land and Environment Court yesterday in relation to a contempt of that same court decided to give a slap on the wrist," Mr O'Farrell told Macquarie Radio.
"You've got to be consistent and if there's a consequence that consequence has got to be felt if you're going to change future behaviour.
"I would have thought anyone sitting on a (judicial) bench across NSW ought to understand that."
But it seemed "that lesson was failed yesterday by a judge of the Land and Environment Court", Mr O'Farrell said.
The court was told Hanna had eight prior convictions for illegally transporting waste and had been issued with 22 penalty notices for similar offences.
Hanna said he was paid $250 for each load of waste he dumped at Picnic Point but he thought it was clean and did not need to go to an approved hazardous waste facility.
Bankstown City Council is expected to take Hanna to court on charges of dumping the waste.
Bankstown City Council mayor Khal Asfour said Mr O'Farrell's decision to look into increasing the penalties for illegal dumping, including jail time, was needed, because fines were not working as a deterrent.
"These cowboys need to be taught a lesson and that's where the courts should come in," he said in a statement on Friday.
"We need help from the courts to send a strong message to people like Mr Hanna who use Sydney streets as their private dumping ground."
