Rex Patrick (SA, Centre Alliance) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Pursuant to standing order 164(3), I seek an explanation from the Minister representing the Minister for the Environment as to why an order for production of documents No. 91, relating to a PFAS report, has not been complied with.

Simon Birmingham (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Trade) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Patrick for his question. As I informed the chamber only a couple of weeks ago, the government welcomed the report of the parliamentary inquiry into the management of PFAS contamination in and around defence bases as we welcome any opportunity to identify potential improvements to the way the government continues to respond to this complex issue.

PFAS contamination is indeed a complex issue, requiring an effective, evidence based and nationally consistent response. Agencies of government have been working cooperatively and in close consultation with communities and other stakeholders as we seek to do. A whole-of-government response to the Senate report is being finalised and will be tabled as soon as possible. Our intent is to have this finalised before the end of this year.

Rex Patrick (SA, Centre Alliance) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate take note of the explanation.

I would like to say to the minister that this report is a very important report that goes to an issue that affects people in multiple states and, as the minister knows, affects people in South Australia in and around the Edinburgh Air Force base.

I know that my Senate colleagues Senator Faruqi and Senator McCarthy will say something, perhaps in relation more specifically to the report, but I remind the government that the Senate has resolved that reports of committees should be responded to within three months. This is a joint report. I note that the House has a rule that says 'six months', but that doesn't negate the need to meet the resolution of the Senate in respect of responding to those.

I'd like to draw the chamber's attention to the President's report to the Senate on the status of Government responses to Parliamentary Committee reports. At the moment, we have a situation where 246 reports are in the President's report, of which there are 205 outstanding responses from government. So 205 reports out of 246 have not been responded to. I remind the government that the Senate and the parliament initiate inquiries and that they do so as they seek to represent their constituents. The parliament or the Senate calls for submissions, which take a lot of work. A lot of people put a lot of time and effort into submissions to the parliament. Then, of course, we go to places, at taxpayers' expense, and sometimes people come to us at their expense, to allow us to hear from people. A considerable amount of work is done by the secretariat and the committees themselves in respect of developing coherent committee reports. When I say that time has been spent, I talk about time that's been spent by government senators, opposition senators and, indeed, senators on the crossbench.

I appreciate that the government might not always have an affinity with the recommendations. They have the ability to respond by rejecting those recommendations. But certainly there is a moral responsibility for government to respond to all of these inquiries, noting that, in some sense, by not doing so they're not being respectful to the people. In my view, they're also not meeting a constitutional obligation to respond to the parliament. It's in that vein that I'm pleased to hear that Minister Birmingham has indicated that we might get a response by the end of this year. I draw the chamber's attention to the fact that there are so many other reports that have simply not been responded to by government.

Mehreen Faruqi (NSW, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to take note of the government's continuing failure to front up to the PFAS affected communities that they have abandoned. Nearly a month ago, I told the Senate that every day the government delays responding to this report shows its contempt not only for the Senate but for the thousands of people who have lived with contamination of their land and their water, caused by the government. Here we are again, nearly a year since the Senate report into PFAS contamination was tabled in this place, and there has been no response whatsoever from the government. There is no justification, really, for the delay. Yes, we all understand it's a complex issue, but we deal with complex issues every single day. And saying that you intend to release the report by the end of the year is, frankly, not good enough. There is no commitment, really, to bringing justice and closure to the victims of this contamination.

It's important to appreciate how we have reached this point. When the report was tabled last December, I said that, if the government care about the community, if they care about our environment, they should urgently accept the recommendations of the report. They don't have to wait for months to provide a response. But months they waited. In January, I visited communities in Williamtown, Salt Ash and Bobs Farm areas, where residents are really sick and tired of having to fight the federal government for compensation for the pollution of their land and water by the Department of Defence. They are really exhausted. They, too, were calling on the government to respond with a proper compensation package that, importantly, must include buybacks of properties that have been significantly affected. Still, the government were silent.

In July, this place passed my motion that ordered the government to release a response. This order for the production of documents passed the Senate after it had been more than seven months since the joint standing committee tabled its report. For seven more months affected communities waited anxiously. Still the government ignored the Senate's call and those of worried residents around the country. By September, I said that enough is enough and moved with others in this place to order the government to table their response. Not only did the government fail to respond, but they told this chamber they didn't even have a response to give. They've had the committee recommendations in front of them for almost one year now and they still don't have a response to give us. What a slap in the face of the communities that have waited more than long enough, communities that have suffered for more than long enough, communities that deserve concrete action—not just now; that action should have happened years ago.

Last month in October, I spoke with the Hawkesbury Environment Network about contamination in Richmond and around New South Wales. I also visited the so-called 'red zone' in Williamtown, where PFAS affected residents have been left in limbo by state and federal governments and the Department of Defence, who, it seems, don't give a damn. Linden Drysdale was one of the citizens I met. After our meeting, she told the Port Stephens Examiner:

The big people - the politicians in Canberra - don't listen to us little people … We are the ones who are living this nightmare 24/7 and we are not going to stop fighting, even it means till the death.

We are with the residents of Williamtown, the residents of Richmond and the communities around the country that this government is leaving hung out to dry. Such is the absolute justified frustration of community members that late last month they launched the largest class action Australia has ever seen. Up to 40,000 people who live and work on the land contaminated by PFAS are taking the government to court to demand justice for the harm this contamination has done to property values that now trap them in an incredibly dangerous situation.

Every day that this government slows down the process and every day that they deny compensation to communities who deserve solid action, the lack of action drives affected people further into the ground financially. Not only that, the lack of action has impacted people's mental and physical wellbeing immensely. These communities did nothing wrong. Their land was contaminated by the Department of Defence but the community is expected now to bear the cost of living with PFAS contamination. You have the luxury of sitting here wasting time and obfuscating, but they don't. People are at breaking point. The government needs to take action, and it needs to take action now. It is the height of arrogance for this government to refuse to respond to the community and also a Senate inquiry. Ultimately, the federal government must take responsibility for the PFAS pollution. The community has waited and suffered long enough. It is time for action. Thousands of lives have been changed by the PFAS contamination, pushing communities to breaking point. Government neglect has forced people to wait for too long. The government must immediately release their response to the PFAS report.

Malarndirri McCarthy (NT, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to again condemn this government on its slow response to an inquiry on something that has impacted so many Australians across this country. In particular, the inquiry went to the affected places in the Northern Territory, Queensland and New South Wales. To all those families out there who are still waiting for a respectful response—well, it's too late, isn't it, Madam Deputy President? It was actually in December 2017 when we stood in this chamber to agree to a subcommittee. We are coming up to December 2019. It is not good enough for our parliament to not respond to the hundreds of families and all of those who gave evidence. They demand respect from this parliament. People are devastated and people are hurting, and we cannot even give a response, because the government has not even considered it.

In the short time that I have, I'd like to remind senators of what we reported on, as deputy chair of the PFAS subcommittee, with the chair, Mr Andrew Laming MP. Our report contained significant recommendations, with a focus on improving the government's response to this issue, particularly in relation to the concerns of the affected communities that I have mentioned. The committee recommended that a coordinator-general be appointed with the authority and resources necessary to more effectively coordinate the whole-of-Commonwealth-government effort in respect of PFAS contamination and to ensure a clear and consistent approach to community consultations and cooperation with state, territory and local governments. The committee also made recommendations to improve the voluntary blood testing program as a source of longitudinal information on the long-term health effects of PFAS exposure and the effectiveness of measures to break PFAS exposure pathways. In many instances, property owners in the PFAS-contaminated areas—and we know where they are across this country, and I certainly know where they are in the Northern Territory—have suffered demonstrable and quantifiable financial losses, and the committee recommended compensation. It isn't difficult to respond to those recommendations. It is not good enough that, two years from when we began the subcommittee PFAS inquiry into these concerns across the country, the government still has not responded.

Question agreed to.