PFAS is part of a group of man-made chemicals sometimes called “forever chemicals”, because they break down so slowly.
These chemicals, used in firefighting foams from 1965 until 2005, have left a legacy of contaminated sites all over Australia. There are 900 contaminated sites including defence force bases and major airports. And because they break down so slowly it will take generations to remove the contamination.
PFAS has found its way to our homes into everyday products such as teflon coatings in our cookware and Scotchgard waterproofing.
There is a global treaty to eliminate PFAS and 5 other chemicals from the environment due to their harm to humans and wildlife. It is called the Stockholm convention on persistent organic pollutants and Australia is a signatory.
The European Commission has set a safe intake level for PFAS of 4.9 nanograms per kg of body weight because of the ill-effects on health. (A nanogram is one part per billion.)
The Morrison Government refuses to accept that the PFAS chemical has caused any harm. The government is refusing to offer compensation and to relocate residents in these contaminated red zones around Defence bases, where a PFAS plume is spreading under their homes right now.
A recent Federal Court case awarded some residents compensation that averaged $150,000 after legal fees. It was $212m in total. This is a tiny part of what these people have lost, and of course, they are still trapped in the red zone in homes they can’t sell. They are still being infected today. This is negligent and dishonest.
Currently Australia does not have a designated safe level for PFAS. Contaminated cattle in the PFAS red zones are routinely returning contamination levels of 400 parts per billion, which is 80 times the European safe level of 4.6 parts per billion.
Food Standards Australia and New Zealand are currently conducting a review and we do expect FSANZ to set a level, which we hope matches the European standard.
The graziers still need to be relocated to a like for like property so they can get on with raising clean, heathy cattle to feed Australia and the world.
The health impacts of PFAS are not going away. These are forever chemicals. Contamination is getting worse because remediation has been limited and based on a refusal to accept the pervasive nature of the problem and the serious health impacts it causes.
We cannot have residents living in the middle of these highly contaminated red zones, abandoned and unable to move out. The Government must offer them like for like relocation.
FSANZ must introduce a national standard for PFAS in food.
Meat and Livestock Australia must get involved and lead a whole of industry response to removing PFAS from the meat food chain.
The government should now honestly settle with these people and then go and get compensation from Dupont, as they have already done in US. Dupont put aside billions of dollars for settlement.
https://www.vetvoice.com.au/imagevault/publishedmedia/3zebrp4o7obvodx3cwjv/vet_voice_-_cows_-_group.jpg399836Senator Malcolm Robertshttps://www.malcolmrobertsqld.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/One-Nation-Logo1-300x150.pngSenator Malcolm Roberts2021-07-31 15:12:002021-08-24 10:33:25PFAS is a toxic problem for Australia and the Beef Industry
Thank you madam acting deputy president. I was told in meetings with defence last year that the PFAS task force was working on the problem with PFAS contamination by applying a whole of government response. So I asked for the minutes of their meetings to see what a whole whole of government response looked like. I was refused. I did a document discovery. Still no minutes arrived.
This third attempt has succeeded. It should not have been this hard to get hold of a simple set of minutes. Having read them, I do understand why they had to be prized away from the task force. The Morrison government’s PFAS response is all talk. It is a process that has no destination and as a result is achieving nothing. It seems to be aiming to stall and to avert. The last concrete action by this government was in 2018 to award $55 million for a drinking water programme for affected areas and $73 million for research into PFAS.
There are now over 900 PFAS sites around Australia. The government is remediating four defence sites. Bases at Williamtown, Oakey, Edinburgh and Katherine. Four down, 896 to go. While the PFAS task force is sitting around holding meetings and reissuing old guidances, the residents of the red zones continue to live with the nightmare every day.
Residents are trapped in homes that are unsaleable. One resident that I’ve spoke with many times and visited his house on a number of occasions, David Jefferis and his wife Diane Priddle from Oakey in Queensland purchased their property in 2004 for a combined $2.4 million investment. At that time, the defence department knew his land was affected by PFAS and yet they kept quiet.
Once the contamination was made public the property became unsaleable. Dave and Diane’s successful cattle breeding and grazing business had to close because nobody wants to buy contaminated cattle or genetics. They have a stud property. A very clean, tidy operation. David and Diane’s property and business was recently valued by a registered valuer at just $400,000.
A $2 million loss through no fault of their own. It’s an outrage that the Morrison government is allowing these residents to remain trapped in red zones while the PFAS taskforce drifts around from meeting room to meeting room in search of direction. While a recent class action lawsuit was settled, Dave and Diane received just $120,000 compensation and he hasn’t got the money yet.
The government’s own PFAS subcommittee has made the same recommendation in the last two update reports which called for remediation, compensation and like for like relocation. That’s fair. I hope the third head of that subcommittee in just two years, Senator McCarthy, has more success in getting their recommendations implemented.
The way forward now must be to remove residents out of the contaminated red zones, install remediation units and treat the groundwater before these toxic plumes spread further and ruin yet more lives.
Now last year, I asked the then Minister for Agriculture Senator McKenzie if it was safe for producers like David and Diane to send their cattle to auction and Senator McKenzie replied, quote,
“There is no reason why farmers cannot send their produce to market.”
End of quote. Well, let’s examine that statement. Food standards Australia specify a safe level for PFAS exposure of 20 nanograms for PFAS and 160 nanograms for PFOA. These can be present together for a total PFAS level of 190 nanograms per kilo of body weight. On the 19th of September 2020, The European Food Safety Authority set a new safety threshold for PFAS contamination.
The limit which now applies across the EU, is just 4.4 nanograms per kilogram of body weight per week. A fraction of what Australia allows. The European body considered the decreased response of the immune system to vaccination to be the most critical human health effect of PFAS exposure.
So I ask. Has the PFAS task force considered that the Morrison government is about to introduce a vaccine for COVID that might be put at risk through our tolerating PFAS levels that are 40 times higher than the new European Safety Standard. Cattle in the red zone from RAAF Base Richmond have been tested at over 1000 nanograms per kilo.
Newborn calves are testing at over 300 nanograms. This is the product that former Minister McKenzie says is safe to sell and consume. It is not safe to sell. By sending contaminated products to the EU, we’re risking food and livestock exports of $2 billion a year. This is not just affecting Oakey, this is affecting the whole beef industry.
The Morrison government can find billions to give to its big business mates for corporate welfare in the name of COVID but can’t find a lesser amount a much much lesser amount to find a like for like relocation and compensation scheme for everyday Australians caught up in the nightmare of the government’s making despite the committee recommending it do so. It’s time for the prime minister to fix this problem. And I seek leave to continue my remarks.
[SEN. ROBERTS] Let’s clear up some recent confusion about One Nation’s position on Acland mine continuing to operate and to reinstate three hundred vital local jobs and 2300 indirect regional jobs. We’ve criticised how a third party representative of Acland approached One Nation in the past.
Pauline reminded everyone of this recently and now that Acland has been willing to give us facts and data and the courts have fixed an injustice I’m pleased to support the mine. Affordable energy and export income is good for our country and Acland will be good for the local area.
I support the decision of the Court of Appeal and the four judges. I support Acland’s Stage 3. Let’s have a look at the timeline of the extension of the operating mine. The Bligh govt gazetted the Stage 3 extension in 2007, thirteen years ago. There was some local opposition.
The project then went to the Land Court where the adjudicator, whose official title is Member, rejected the mine’s application in 2016. One Nation accepted that decision. It then went on appeal to the Supreme Court, where Acland was successful. After that it went to on to the Court of Appeal which included the highly respected Justice Sofronoff and two other judges. Acland won that.
The Court of Appeal, our highest court in Queensland, ruled that the decision by the Land Court Member was affected by “apprehended bias” and was unsound. That means one Land Court Member showing apprehended bias ruled against the mine and hundreds of jobs AND four Supreme court Judges overruled him.
The courts have corrected an injustice within their own system.
[INTERVIEWER] What about the current appeal?
[SEN. ROBERTS] This decision is now on appeal to the High Court thanks to the Labor government continuing to give taxpayer money to The Environmental Defenders Office to interrupt development and jobs.
The Independent Expert Scientific Committee on Coal Seam Gas and Large Coal Mining Development issued three advices in relation to Acland’s impact on groundwater over 2014, 2015 and 2016. The 2014 and 2015 reports criticised Acland. It’s 2016 report was positive and said that all matters raised had been addressed.
This report won Acland Federal environmental approval.We want to encourage businesses who are told they have a problem and fix it. This is what Acland did and got sign off from an independent, statutory scientific body that the courts said had access to the same information as any objector.
[INTERVIEWER] What about the evidence given in the Land Court?
[SEN. ROBERTS] Several witnesses on both sides gave evidence that had the appearance of being first-hand but was later shown to be based on hearsay. The Land Court Member in the first decision made no criticism of the objectors who gave such evidence yet was highly critical of one of Acland’s witnesses who did exactly the same [1].
The Land Court Member said that Acland had deliberately distorted the facts and eroded the confidence of the court. The Court of Appeal found that there was no basis to impute this [2]. The Court of Appeal found that at a certain point the Land Court Member was, quote: “animated by an extreme and irrational animus against Acland” [3].
Essentially, he the Member, had taken a negative attitude towards Acland. The court of appeal said at times the Member was combative, argumentative and sarcastic to Acland [4]. In the Supreme Court, it was found that there was no evidence to support the claim that Acland had engaged in pressure tactics [5].
The Court of Appeal found there was no basis for the Land Court Member’s conclusion that Acland had sought to portray objectors as bigoted individuals who were only interested in spreading misinformation [6]. The Land Court Member himself concluded that some of the objectors were ready to make assertions without evidence, make submissions that were scandalous and unsupported by any evidence and as to one witness, having an anti-Acland fixation that overflowed into her evidence [6].
The Court of Appeal found that the Land Court Member’s imputation that Acland had tried to hide relevant information in relation to groundwater impacts was “irrational” [7]. While the original Land Court Member’s decision rejected Acland, it’s obvious that was not sound.
[INTERVIEWER] There was a comment that Acland tried to influence a One Nation candidate?
[SEN. ROBERTS] There was an accusation, since retracted, that our local, grassroots candidate had been wined and dined by the mine. None of these are true. I want to acknowledge Alan Jones’ strength of character in correcting and apologising for the assertion about that candidate. I thank him for that.
[INTERVIEWER] What has led to your support for Acland?
[SEN. ROBERTS] I visited Acland 3 weeks ago and worked through my extensive checklist of things I think needed to be considered.
These include: Safety & health; Water underground; water overland; water usage & supply; land use rights; constitution; aboriginal land (none at Acland); rural land quality & use; farm produce type; environment – air quality, vibrations, reclamation, noise, past performance; town services & rates; jobs and local/regional economy; infrastructure impacts; social impact; bank support; owner’s flexibility and consideration of others’ needs; government fiscal responsibility/debt;
Acland meets all of them. In fact, Acland has extensively changed its mining plan at high cost to itself to meet locals’ needs. I listened to a small group of opponents to Acland.I listened to the local community, business owners and farmers who strongly support this project.
Coal is good for this country and Acland will be good for the local area. I support the decision of the Court of Appeal and the four judges. I support Acland.Let’s get government green tape, red tape and blue tape out of the way, and get shovels in the ground and dump trucks on the road.
In a state with $100 billion of debt thanks to the Liberal-Labor duopoly we need export income and affordable domestic energy for our economic recovery and to secure our state’s future.
https://i0.wp.com/www.malcolmrobertsqld.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Capture-1.png?fit=731%2C409&ssl=1409731Senator Malcolm Robertshttps://www.malcolmrobertsqld.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/One-Nation-Logo1-300x150.pngSenator Malcolm Roberts2020-08-05 10:39:542020-08-05 11:21:52Why I support the Acland Mine Extension
This week I visited farmers in and around Oakey who have had their lives and livelihoods destroy by PFAS contamination from the nearby Army Aviation Centre in Oakey. One Nation is calling for affected resident to receive like-for-like compensation as soon as possible so they can get on with their lives. PFAS FACT SHEET https://tinyurl.com/ya877sqy
Transcript
Hi, I’m Malcolm Roberts and I’m a senator for Queensland, and I’m near the Oakey Army Base here in just west of Toowoomba. We’re going to show you a clip of some water flowing overland and it’s going through this water course here, and it shows PFAS contamination.
And what annoys me is that governments in this country, both liberal, national and labor, just ignore the damn data. They just completely ignore it. Now, I happen to have worked in an industry where if you ignore data, people die, so I’ve become very conditioned to data and I understand its power.
Now, the European Union has set a new limit for PFAS contamination in beef. It’s eight nanograms per kilogram of body weight, it’s much, much lower than in Australia. And, in fact, the Department of Defence and some other departments in this country don’t even recognise any damn level at all is significant.
So what happens if we continue to ignore this data, we continue to ignore the plight of people? What will happen if someone in the EU is inspecting our meat and they come across highly contaminated PFAS? The whole of our beef industry will be shut down, that’s what’s at stake.
So we need the government to come clean, look at the data and admit what they’ve been doing for 40 years knowingly in this country. I’m so sick and tired of this, and we need people here who in this country, who have been belted and smashed, livelihoods, future for their retirement completely destroyed, and the Department of Defence has known about it.
We need like for like compensation, we need those people to be relocated and we need those properties to be declared unsafe. That’s all we want, but we want people to abide by the data. For goodness sake, these are people’s livelihoods at stake, whole lives at stake.
And it’s not only the people involved in the PFAS contamination zones like this one, this is where overland flows are contaminated, overland flows are coming from the base, but it’s also mums and dads because they are not being told that some of the beef is contaminated and they’re feeding contaminated beef to kids.
It’s all over Australia, that’s what we want fixed. The people in this land, in this land here, are taking responsibility, but they need to be compensated for that, like for like compensation, and we need to have healthy, safe food levels for production in this country.
One Nation Senator Roberts’ requests for documents relating to the Government’s PFAS Taskforce have been denied.
Minister Ley’s department, through the PFAS Taskforce, is responsible for solving the PFAS contamination disaster zones across Australia.
“PFAS contamination on air force bases in Australia has destroyed the lives of those bordering the bases, yet the supposed plan to help these residents is being kept secret,” Senator Roberts stated.
Senator Roberts added, “On behalf of the residents, I want to know what meetings are happening, who is attending and what actions are being agreed upon to help these people.”
One Nation is committed to achieving like-for-like relocation of residents in the red zones across Australia, and fair compensation for affected businesses.
“Instead of fair compensation for residents the Government is forcing red zone residents into court where their settlements are feeding lawyers instead of families.”
“PFAS has been a known problem for over 15 years and the ongoing refusal to release documents that give residents confidence of a resolution, suggests the Minister is hiding something,” Senator Roberts said.
The Hunter Valley wetlands, which the government is responsible for maintaining, has PFAS contamination that requires remediation.
The plume from RAAF Base Williamtown is heading south-east and only 50m from the Hunter River at Fern Bay and heading to Worimi surf beach.
“An effective strategy would be to pipe the groundwater back to the RAAF base and use the PFAS treatment plant they have built there to clean that water,” suggested Senator Roberts. The Government must stop the delays, take responsibility and provide like-for-like remediation and fair compensation for affected residents immediately.
