Australian Greens Senator for NSW, Mehreen Faruqi, has said that today’s announcement of a NSW ban on firefighting foam containing PFAS chemicals is welcome, but long overdue.

The Commonwealth should now proceed with a national ban.

Senator Faruqi said:

“Communities across NSW will welcome this news. It is long overdue. Our environment and people’s livelihoods have been ruined by toxic PFAS chemicals.

Last week I visited Port Stephens to meet with community members who have been raising the plight of koalas in the area, in particular the destruction of 52 hectares of prime koala habitat for expanding the Brandy Hill quarry. Thank you to Brandy Hill & Seaham Action Group, Port Stephens Koalas, EcoNetwork and countless people who have been campaigning with passion, with commitment and with resilience to save our irreplaceable wildlife. They are rightly concerned about the irreversible loss of koala habitat and koalas in this area if this mine expansion is allowed to go ahead.

Instead of investing in Australia's future, the Morrison government is choosing inequality and climate collapse in its federal budget. The federal budget to be handed down tonight is many things. I'll start by saying that it's a real contradiction. After last year's big proclamation that we were back in the black, after years of highly misleading and incorrect assertions that surpluses are all the evidence we need of good economic management, we are staring down the barrel of an enormous deficit.

I rise to take note of the Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade report Inquiry into PFAS remediation in and around Defence bases: second progress report, which evaluates the government response to the initial inquiry that we had a couple of years ago. The PFAS subcommittee, of which I am a member, was re-established after the federal election last year, when the 46th Parliament resumed. It was re-established precisely with the purpose of scrutinising progress on the recommendations of the parliamentary inquiry into PFAS and the government's response to it.

I rise to make some short comments on the amendment from my colleague Senator Sarah Hanson-Young. I associate myself with the comments made by my colleagues. This government is doing what it does best: hiding from scrutiny, avoiding transparency, making decisions behind closed doors. We know that this legislation is ecocide. We know that you are environmental vandals. That's pretty clear. All you see nature is is as a commodity to use and abuse. Why?

Australian Greens Senator for NSW Dr Mehreen Faruqi has welcomed today’s news that class action participants have reached a settlement of $212.5 million with the government over PFAS contamination, though has labelled the recent government response to the federal PFAS inquiry as extremely disappointing.

Senator Faruqi said:

That the Senate—

(a) notes:

   (i) that the Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade tabled its report on the Inquiry into the management of PFAS contamination in and around Defence bases in November 2018, to which the government response is overdue by a year,

   (ii) that in a resolution of 29 July 2019, the Senate called on the Government to provide a response to the aforementioned report,

I move:

That the Senate—

(a) notes that:

   (i) Prime Minister Scott Morrison has signed off on a $2 billion deal with the New South Wales Government that would fast track the Narrabri Gas Project (NGP), which will extract gas from coal seams lying deep beneath the mighty Pilliga Forest,

   (ii) the NGP is fiercely opposed by local communities, farmers, and ecologists because it threatens the Pilliga Forest, the Great Artesian Basin, farmers' livelihoods, and food and water security, and

That the Senate—

(a) notes that:

   (i) the issue of per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) contamination has caused significant mental, emotional and financial stress for communities where PFAS have contaminated land and water, including the communities around the RAAF bases in Williamtown and Richmond in New South Wales, the Oakey Army Aviation Centre in Queensland, and RAAF Base Tindal at Katherine in the Northern Territory,