Shayne Neumann (Blair, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

My question relates to the F111 deseal-reseal inquiry, which, of course, budgetary resources will be allocated towards. It relates to an election commitment made in the campaign in 2007 by the then shadow minister at the RSL at North Ipswich. It relates to the F111 deseal-reseal program, which exposed about 700 RAAF personnel and civilians to a range of chemicals and solvents when they were replacing sealant in the aircrafts’ fuel tanks across a period from about 1977 to about 2000. There has been a lot of public concern, particularly in the electorates of Blair and Oxley, which house a lot of veterans. The RAAF base at Amberley is an important base—it is a superbase we are creating. It is a destination of choice because a lot of veterans end up serving their time at the RAAF base at Amberley. When they retire from, for example, Townsville, or wherever they might go, they come back to Ipswich and settle down in the Ipswich and West Moreton areas, so of course they put pressure on the health services locally.

A number of people involved in the program, and their families, are claiming that they have been adversely affected. I have met with the group on numerous occasions, as I know the minister did when he was the shadow minister. We have listened to the concerns of the local people. These are very serious matters because there are people who have been very badly affected. Also, there are people who, it is alleged, have died as a result of the after-effects of their involvement in the program. The previous Howard government actually put forward a study of health outcomes in aircraft maintenance personnel, known as SHOAMP, and responded with a two-tiered system of ex gratia payments. For example, if a person spent 30 days cumulatively working in the fuselage deseal-reseal or the respray program during the period I have described, and their duties involved working inside the F111 fuel tanks, they could be eligible for $40,000, but if they spent, say, between 10 and 29 days cumulatively in the same program they could only get $10,000.

A lot of the people I have met have been very angry about this program and the response of the Howard government on these payments; they think they are inadequate. I know the minister has made a commitment to a public inquiry. A number of the people in my electorate have asked me questions about the form of the inquiry, and I understand it is to be done by the Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade. They want to know when the public hearings—if they are going to be public hearings—will be held and where they will be held, because some of these people are not well. They are not well and, also, they are not well off. Travelling is a big issue, so they would like to know whether the committee will come to, say, Ipswich or thereabouts or to south-east Queensland, because a lot of the 700 people live in south-east Queensland. They would like to know the manner in which they can give evidence—for example, statutory declarations or affidavits or whether they will just tell their stories—how they will present their evidence and how they can get their information and their stories across.

They want to know whether it is just going to be personnel or their families who can tell stories. As you know, Minister, there are a number of people who have died and their relatives have been involved in the deseal-reseal group. Also, civilians have approached me about whether they can tell their stories. I would like your comment in relation to these issues because they are important in my constituency. I know you have met with this group on numerous occasions and I would like to have your response.

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