SENATE

88 SENATE Thursday, 13 October 2016
As we all know, the fire triangle is one of fuel, oxygen and a source of ignition. We can assume, therefore, that,
by the time firefighting foam and water are being used, we have already had the oxygen and we have already had
the source of ignition—and we have fuel. So the purpose of firefighting foam is to add to the effectiveness of
water by creating, at the microscopic level, a capacity to be able to starve the fuel of air—oxygen—in which case,
of course, it does not burn.
I just want to make some comments with regard to the process and those who appeared before us in the
hearings we have had and to also speak of the actions being coordinated by the Minister for Health and Aged Care
and the Minister for Defence.
With my veterinary hat from earlier days on, I put a question doctors in Newcastle. What we would normally
expect to have happen is that a doctor might find a number of cases for which they have no clinical explanation,
and that would usually cause them to talk to other doctors in their clinic and their practice and say to them: 'Look,
I think I am seeing an unusual set of circumstances. Are you also seeing it?' Those other clinicians might say,
'Yes, as a matter of fact, we are', and generally they would consult with others in their district.
In the event that they think there is a 'cluster', as the term is used, it would be normal for doctors to get in touch
with the state health department and say, 'Look, in this geographic area, a number of us believe we are seeing a
range of clinical conditions for which we have no explanation.' It would then be the case that the state health
department would be asked to come and inspect and do what is called an epidemiological study to establish if
there is an epidemic of a certain circumstance or set of clinical signs and, therefore, what might be causing it. In
Newcastle, I asked that very question of witnesses—are you aware of any such cluster in the Newcastle area as a
result of the PFOA and PFOS presence in the water courses that have emanated from RAAF Base
Williamtown?—and nobody was able to tell me that there had been such a circumstance.
I want to place on record immediately the recognition of the deep concern that residents in these communities
have—and it is your state and mine. We now have it appearing around RAAF Base Pearce at Bullsbrook, north of
Perth. Probably every military base and every large commercial airport in Australia has used PFOA and PFOS at
some time in their firefighting foams. We know, of course—and Senator Burston may have mentioned it—that
from 2004 they ceased to be used in the Defence Estate.
It needs to be understood that pretty well everybody in the western world, including all of us in this chamber,
have levels of PFOA and/or PFOS in our bloodstreams. Why have we? Because, as has been said by my
colleague, it is the substance used in Scotchgard, non-stick frypans and other products in common use. In fact, it
has been recorded from the research that I have done that the person with the highest ever recorded blood levels of
PFOA and PFOS was a lady working as a domestic cleaner in commercial buildings in a city in the United States.
Again, we do not have any record of adverse health effects. So, I wish to direct the chamber to the comments of
Dr Eric Donaldson in Oakey in Queensland. Dr Donaldson was the base doctor at the base of Oakey, which for
those who do not know, is directly to the west of Toowoomba on the way to Dalby, where I spent a good deal of
my time as an undergraduate student whilst I was at vet school in Queensland. Donaldson also owns a very
significant amount of farming land around the base at Oakey, and he runs beef cattle.
I asked Dr Donaldson—and, of course, it is in the evidence of the hearing on Wednesday, 9 March 2006, under
the chairmanship my colleague Senator Alex Gallacher—'Did you, at any time during the time you were the base
doctor, ever observe any clinical signs in personnel resident on the base, those working for the military or their
families, or did you have reason to believe there were clinical conditions for which you had no explanation?' and
he said, 'No, I have not.' I then said to him, 'Well, you continued on in Oakey as a clinician?' I asked him the same
question as a civilian doctor, 'Have you seen any evidence?' He said, 'No.' I said, 'Have other doctors?' He said,
'No.' I said, 'What about the medical professionals in Toowoomba?' He said, 'No, we haven't.'
I said, 'Well, you have been a very active cattle breeder.' I, of course, am associated somewhat with the Pascoe
family—Dr Reg Pascoe, a very eminent Darling Downs veterinarian, and his two sons, John and David, both of
whom I worked with at UC Davis in California. David, now with a doctorate himself in equine reproduction, is
working back in the Darling Downs. I know very well, from his interests, that Reg Pascoe would have also and
did have long conversations with Donaldson about the condition of their cattle. I put that same question to him. I
said, 'Have you ever had any occasion—you or Reg Pascoe—to consider any pathology in cattle, be it abortions,
be it early-term births, be it foetal abnormalities or anything at all?' He said, 'No, Senator Back. I have never ever
had occasion and neither, I believe, has Dr Pascoe.'
We then had evidence from a Professor Jochen Mueller, who is the professor of environmental toxicology at
the University of Queensland and who cut his teeth on the toxic chemical dioxin at his university in Europe. He is
of interest to this debate because he is the only person to have actually done any definitive work on a group of
people who might have been at risk. I think it was in about 2005 or 2006 that Airservices Australia engaged his
CHAMBER