John Williams (NSW, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

PFAS is certainly a problem. After doing a bit of research on it: PFAS has been used for over 50 years in Australia and globally in a range of industrial, medical and consumer products including cosmetics, sunscreens, rubber, plastic, insecticides, non-stick frying pans—you name it. They are now so widespread that almost every person on earth has been exposed to PFAS and has PFAS in their blood. There is some good news here: we know that these chemicals can persist in human, animals and the environment, but there's currently no consistent evidence that PFAS are harmful to human health. I hope that's the case. We do know that the human body gets rid of PFAS over time. That's also a good advantage. So, once exposure is reduced or stopped, any PFAS in the body will reduce; I'm not sure over what period of time. This is why the $12.5 million national research program into the human health effects of prolonged exposure to PFAS was undertaken, in places such as Oakey, Williamtown and Katherine, in a best-practice study to better understand if there are any long-term human health impacts. Some human health studies have found an association between exposure to these chemicals and health effects, and others have not. In addition, the studies that found an association were not able to determine with certainty whether the health effects were caused by the chemical being studied or by other factors, such as smoking. More research is required before definitive statements can be made on causality or risk—which is what we are doing.

I'm very pleased to say that the Department of Health has established an expert health panel to advise the Australian government on the potential health impacts associated with PFAS exposure and to identify priority areas for further research. It is expected that the panel will provide its advice to the Minister for Health late this month. The panel's advice will be released publicly soon after. The panel will also provide its advice on priority research areas to the National Health and Medical Research Council to inform their targeted call for research for the Per- And Poly-Fluoroalkyl Substances—National Health Research Program.

The PFAS Taskforce was established by the Prime Minister in December 2016 as part of the Commonwealth's response to develop a collaborative approach to manage PFAS contamination. The task force brought together Commonwealth agencies and state and territory governments to support greater consistency and sharing of information. This is important—to share the information between the Commonwealth agencies and state and territory governments. Because of the complexity and breadth of the issue, the Commonwealth response to PFAS will still require coordination and oversight for a considerable time to come. Senator Burston put a question to Minister Payne last week, and Minister Payne replied, 'This is a very complicated issue.' I can see now why it is. This oversight includes engaging and collaborating with relevant Commonwealth agencies, state and territory governments, and industry stakeholders.

Let's talk about some of the actions being carried out. Because of the wide variety of potential source points, this is an issue for all levels of government—federal, state and council—and not just military bases. It is also airports, state firefighting training facilities, rural firefighting training facilities, local dumps and private industrial industries 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 communities across Australia. This is why it is now a standing item on the COAG agenda.

The full extent of PFAS contamination across the Commonwealth estate is still being determined. It is 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. I'm very pleased to hear of the government putting taxpayers' money into water supplies—I'm talking mainly of the towns around Williamtown—into town water, and, as Senator McCarthy said, into establishing rainwater tanks for drinking, and even bottled water in places like Katherine.

This is a very serious issue. The PFAS task force also met with organisations including the Australian Bankers' Association, the Customer Owned Banking Association, Westpac, ANZ, CBA, NAB and the Insurance Council of Australia. The task force provided these key organisations with the most current scientific information on PFAS, including many other issues.