Minister for Defence - Interview on ABC Newcastle with Garth Russell

JOURNALIST

We have Defence Minister Marise Payne joining us this morning.

MINISTER PAYNE

Good morning, Garth.

JOURNALIST

Are you satisfied with the progress that’s being made so far given the angst, given the concerns that we have just heard from our community and outlined by the shadow Defence Minister?

MINISTER PAYNE

Garth, I know there are very, very significant concerns in the community and in fact more broadly because as you know this is not just an issue in relation to defence sites but also airports and fire fighting where training has occurred with similar foams, so I am very much aware of that. What we have been able to do in the last 12 months though, and I hasten to add that in the last 12 months this has been a very significant focus of mine and of my colleagues involved in the Defence portfolio. We’ve managed in Williamtown in particular to complete those detailed investigations within the investigation area that the NSW EPA set up and published both the environmental site assessment and Human Health Risk Assessment reports in only the last month, the 8^th of August.

As part of that process we’ve taken over 2000 samples; groundwater, surface water, soil, sediment and biota to collect and to analyse. That includes 320 samples from residential bores crossing over 200 different properties. We’ve moved very early as soon as the extent of this issue became apparent both to the department, but more particularly to me when I took on this role in late September, to provide alternative drinking water to 71 properties where previously they had been relying on bore water and as you know we are funding Hunter Water to, I think, the number of $3.5 million to connect reticulated water in any of those properties where they continue to rely on bore water. That’s at the most practical level.

It’s a Government wide response that we are pursuing. Of course, Health as the Commonwealth Department is engaged at that level in that area of the portfolio responsibility where the enHealth standards are involved. We are looking at international standards in that regard and as well as that, the Department of Environment is looking at the appropriate standards to be used around Australia.

JOURNALIST

The thing that keeps coming out because, you know, we are talking 12 months on, I guess we are getting a real sense from the community particularly from those who are being affected that they know the complications but they still really need a timeframe. Can we get any sense of - are we talking months or are we talking years as to when people can start getting back to a normal lifestyle?

MINISTER PAYNE

So Garth, the contaminants that we are talking about are persistent and enduring and I can’t make them disappear overnight. What I can do is endeavour to minimise the water that is leaving the site at Williamtown and we are looking at a large range of measures to treat that; at stabilisations, at keeping the contaminants in place, treating them and removing them, ensuring that Lake Cochran for example has the water treatment plant established, which will be operational by the end of the month, providing we don’t get too much more of this rain, counter intuitively.

We are making sure that any soil that we are moving is treated as well and stored if necessary or disposed of through appropriate disposal mechanisms. We are very much aware of the depth of the contamination, the height of the groundwater, ironically, compromises the ability that we have to do that but we are using every single international method that is available to us to minimise that movement.

We also know that surrounding the base, whether it’s Moors Drain or other water movements in other parts of the community where the water moves very quickly and easily both in surface and groundwater; we also know that we need to be very careful about disturbing those areas as we work out remediation options so as not to exacerbate the spread of the chemicals. So in that regard we are making some progress. What is really interesting, Garth, is the diversity of the level of contamination. Interesting, not necessarily in a positive way I mean, because there isn’t a one size fits all solution either.

JOURNALIST

There is concern I guess about the area of compensation too and I just want to put this to you because this came out in April in the Saturday Paper to do with consultants that were employed by the Defence Department looking at the levels of safety of both PFOA and PFOS suggesting that at a workshop that those levels were dropped to a point that they are 75 times higher than the acceptable levels in the United States. This is as far as the drinking water goes. There is this worry that maybe the Defence Department is also shirking its responsibility to do with compensation.

MINISTER PAYNE

So Garth, that’s just fundamentally not correct. So there was a workshop held, I think it’s called a workshop – it’s called a summit actually – convened by enHealth, which is not a Defence organisation. It was convened in December last year. It brought together experts in toxicology, in clinical toxicology, in the health risk assessment and public health aspects of the issue. It brought representatives from the jurisdictions and agencies, which include the Department of Defence, to share the information that they have, to provide the advice that they have about what they’ve (inaudible) on the health impact and community messaging in relation to the contaminations issue. enHealth develops the guidance statements and the fact sheet. They took into account those summit considerations – of course they did – but Defence was not involved in any way in the meetings which developed the fact sheet on the chemicals for consideration by the other committees. The enHealth guidance statement and that fact sheet have been endorsed by senior Australian health protection committees. So to try and conflate, if you like, the process by which enHealth has done its work and the work that Defence has done is in fact not accurate. It is true to say that we endeavoured to put the facts of that situation to relevant media outlets but they weren’t particularly interested in the facts.

JOURNALIST

OK, as far as the reputation – and the RAAF has had a wonderful reputation in this region as an employer, as a contributor to this region – are you in any way concerned that the RAAF, Williamtown generally, has taken a hit as far as people’s sense of respect for it now?

MINISTER PAYNE

Of course I am, of course I am, and that’s why I have spent a considerable amount of time and worked at great lengths with representatives of my department, with my colleagues, the Health Minister in particular, to address these issues in any way that we can.

It’s why I’ve indicated in the context of the recent election campaign that we will, in response to community concerns, pay for voluntary blood testing which the community has requested because that is of significant concern to individuals and to families. And if you’ve already had a blood test, then we will reimburse you. If you wish to do that now, before the system is set up through the GPs and primary health network, then we will pay for that as well.

We will have a specific staff member on site in the Hunter from Monday, a Department of Human Services staff member who will be able to connect members of the community with services and support they might need. Also, a senior dedicated Defence liaison officer, so a community support officer, who will be able to direct inquiries specifically through that individual, because I know there have been concerns about where people should make contact and how they should ask their questions.

So the situation in which we find ourselves, some decades on from the use of these fire fighting foams, is a very difficult one for us but however difficult it is for us, it is infinitely more difficult for the members of the community. I know that, I understand that and that’s why we’ve made these decisions.

JOURNALIST

Alright, and before we let you go, and I really appreciate your time this morning, we’ve just had a text come through: “I’d like to see them stop the contamination, from coming off the base so this stops happening, I’d like the council to improve infrastructure with our drainage so we are no longer flooding, I’d like them to be a bit more honest and have our questions answered and also some sort of compensation for the values of people’s properties”. They’re the sorts of comments that we get on a regular basis.

MINISTER PAYNE

And I get them as well, as you can imagine. So in addition to the water treatment plant that I spoke about in relation to Lake Cochran which, as I say is intended to be operational by the end of this month, we have already done a functionality assessment of Moors drain which is about working with Port Stephens Council to look at what we can do to make sure it functions as effectively as possible, and started work with the Council to complete an assessment of the entire drainage network on and surrounding the base so that we can manage that water and try to stop it exiting the base. The challenge though, Garth, and you would appreciate this as a local for so many years, the challenge is the capacity of the human being to stop the movement of groundwater – it’s a very significant one. So what we need to look at on the base is stabilisation initiatives that actually enable us to keep the contaminants in place and we are using every single international option that there is to test that. The volume that we have here is very, very high in comparison to how tests – where and how tests have been done internationally. So we continue to do that. That is my aim, to absolutely ensure that as far as we are able to do so, that we do prevent the contaminants from leaving the base, that we do manage the movement of surface water as best as we can, that we have that filtration plant running on Lake Cochran, and that we work with the Council and the community to minimise this as far as possible and support the community with getting on with their lives.

JOURNALIST

Alright, we really appreciation your time this morning, thanks for talking to us.