James McGrath (Queensland, Liberal National Party, Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Burston for his remarks and for his interest in this complex issue. The issue of PFAS contamination is a complex issue and we're dealing with a very complicated legacy issue because of the wide variety of potential sources. This is an issue for all levels of government—not just the Commonwealth government but also state and territory governments. PFAS contamination impacts not just military bases but also airports, state firefighting training facilities, rural firefighting training facilities, local dumps and private industrial facilities in the chemical and oil industries. This is why a nationally consistent approach for responding to PFAS contamination is being considered by COAG to ensure all levels of government cooperate for the benefit of all affected communities across Australia. It is also essential that any action by the Commonwealth be very clearly based on evidence, proportionate to the level of risk and fiscally sustainable into the future for all governments and private industry.

Despite the widespread use of the chemicals that are under the PFAS umbrella, the human health impact of these chemicals is still inconclusive. We know these chemicals can persist in humans, animals and the environment. We do know that the human body gets rid of PFAS over time, so once exposure is reduced or stopped, any PFAS in the body will reduce. But there is currently no consistent evidence that PFAS is harmful to human health. Some human health studies have found associations between exposure to these chemicals and health effects, and others have not. In addition, the studies have found associations were not able to determine with certainty whether the health effects were caused by the chemical being studied or by other factors.

So more research is required before definitive statements can be made on causality or risk, which is what we are doing. We're undertaking the $12½ million national research program into the human health effects of prolonged exposure to PFAS across Oakey in my home state of Queensland, Williamtown in Senator Burston's state of New South Wales and Katherine in the Northern Territory. This is a best-practice study to better understand if there are any long-term human health impacts. The study will produce high-class information that will be available first and foremost to the community and to the government and decision-makers.

The Department of Health have also established an expert health panel to advise the Australian government on the potential health impacts associated with PFAS exposure and identify priority areas for further research. It is expected that the panel will provide its advice to the Minister for Health in late February 2018, and the panel's advice will be released publicly soon after. The panel will also provide its advice into priority research areas to the National Health and Medical Research Council to inform their targeted call for research for the PFAS substances area in the national health research program.

I need to stress that the full extent of PFAS contamination across the Commonwealth estate is still being determined. To help remove the chemical and remediate the environment, the Department of Defence is examining a range of other technologies that have the potential to remediate contaminated water and soil.

The Australian government has invested heavily in a wide range of activities to address PFAS contamination and its impacts and to better understand the potential health effects of PFAS exposure. I've already mentioned the national research program into human health effects of prolonged exposure to PFAS. There has been $55 million spent to support the communities of Williamtown and Oakey to reduce exposure, manage the environmental impacts and provide dedicated mental health and counselling services, a voluntary blood-testing program and an epidemiological study into potential health effects from exposure to PFAS. There has been $5.7 million spent to better support the Katherine community through access to the voluntary blood-testing program, the study and additional dedicated mental health and counselling services. There is $15 million being spent on the national PFAS Remediation Research Program to support the development of innovative technologies to investigate and remediate PFAS contaminated areas, including soil and other solid contaminated debris, groundwater, waterways and marine systems. (Time expired)