Inquiry calls on government to issue compensation for land contamination

Property owners hard-hit by potentially toxic PFAS firefighting chemicals should be compensated, a parliamentary inquiry has recommended.

Liberal MP Andrew Laming this week presented a parliamentary committee report into the management of PFAS contamination in and around defence bases, with nine recommendations for the government.

Perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl (PFAS) is a group of chemicals used in firefighting foam that remain in the environment for years and can be passed through breast milk.

Firefighting foams containing PFAS were used during training and emergency responses across the nation until the mid-2000s.

A Current Affair has previously reported on the issue on several occasions.

"No family should be trapped on contaminated land," Mr Laming told the lower house.

"They shouldn't be prevented from selling because of the effects of a pollutant for which they are not responsible."

The inquiry's recommendations include introducing a co-ordinator-general for the issue, whose responsibilities would include monitoring contamination levels.

Soil contamination levels should be made publicly available, Mr Laming said.

Free case management and financial counselling services should be made available to those affected by PFAS contamination, the inquiry says.

The government is also being urged to ban the foam, while containing and ultimately destroying long chain PFAS based firefighting foams.

Mr Laming says "justice delayed is justice denied" for Australian families feeling the effects of the chemicals.

"It's hard to imagine a more frustrating example than an environmental contaminant leaching from next door into your own property, and being left to sort it out for yourself," he said.

A lack of knowledge on how the chemicals affect human health is stalling progress for those who have been affected, the MP acknowledged.

The government should therefore take immediate action to ensure more people take part in a voluntary blood testing program, so further research can be undertaken, Mr Laming said.

Labor MP Meryl Swanson says people in her NSW electorate of Paterson have been to "hell and back" over the toxic foam.

"This is an issue which has torn at the very fabric of people's lives, not only their investments, not only money, (but) their bodies, their families," she said.

"It really has struck at the heart of their very existence."

The inquiry's recommendations also include launching an independent review of environmental regulation of Commonwealth land and reviewing existing advice on the health effects of PFAS exposure.

With AAP.