Meryl Swanson (Paterson, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Turnbull government has failed the people of Williamtown and Salt Ash. It has failed people whose homes, bodies, businesses and babies have been contaminated by firefighting chemicals that have leached from the Williamtown RAAF Base for decades. The government has failed these people because it made promises it has not kept—promises about containing these chemicals that are still leaching from the base; promises about remediating the land, which is all but worthless; and promises about solutions for our community, a way out.

Through its delays, its inaction and its disregard for the pleas for help, the government has forced the people of Williamtown and Salt Ash to take this matter into their own hands. They have engaged lawyers and they have launched a class action against Defence for the damage done and the losses caused. The government has done naught. This community—old farmers, young families and horse lovers—chose these idyllic small acreages to grow their vegies, raise their chooks and raise their children. All of that is gone, through no fault of their own. On 4 September last year, they awoke to front-page warnings not to drink their water and not to eat their vegetables or their eggs. Fishing was banned. Overnight, they were in the red zone. I tell you now, this government has categorically failed them.