Joint Media Release - Minister for Defence, Minister for Education and Training, Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister - New research program to tackle PFAS

The Turnbull Government has launched a new $13 million research program to tackle PFAS in the environment.

The PFAS Remediation Research Program will 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.

The Program will see some of Australia’s leading research minds investigate options to address the highly complex problems PFAS presents.

The Turnbull Government asked the Australian Research Council (ARC) to administer a range of research programs that investigate existing and emerging solutions for PFAS removal and disposal and to develop new technologies and processes that can be deployed across the country.

The PFAS Remediation Research Program will fund a range of research projects focused on:

• minimising PFAS in the environment
• developing effective technologies that can be applied to remediate PFAS contaminated soil, waterways, waste, debris and/or large volumes of groundwater
• developing options and mechanisms through which these effective technologies can be applied in the field.

The PFAS Remediation Research Program is funded by the Australian Government through the ARC Special Research Initiatives (SRI) scheme.

The ARC SRI scheme provides funding for new and emerging fields of research and builds capacity in strategically important areas. The objective of the SRI scheme is to support high-quality research, which will assist in advancing Australia’s research excellence to be globally competitive and deliver benefits to the community.

To date the Government has invested over $100 million in responding to PFAS contamination, including investigations, community support, remediation and research.

The Program builds on the Turnbull Government’s investment of more than $100 million in responding to PFAS contamination, including investigations, community support, remediation and research.

The first selection round of the PFAS Remediation Research Program will be open to eligible Administering Organisations from December 2017 to February 2018, inviting grant applications for between $50,000 to $1 million per year, for one to three years.

For more information about the PFAS Remediation Research Program please visit the ARC website.

Media Contacts:

Minister Payne:                               Henry Budd, 0429 531 143

Minister Birmingham:                      Benn Ayre, 0428 342 325

Assistant Minister McGrath:            Clare Siddins, 0427 200 674

ARC Media:                                    0412 623 056 or communications@arc.gov.au