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Thursday, 13 October 2016 <strong>SENATE</strong> 91<br />
Williamtown. Former senator Stephen Conroy, the defence minister at the time, went up in June 2016 to talk to<br />
the community. Shadow minister Gai Brodtmann and local member Meryl Swanson have been there many times<br />
and have continued to talk to the people about their issues. Sharon Claydon, the former member whose area<br />
covered Williamtown prior to the redistribution, always had a concern for the citizens of Williamtown. I welcome<br />
Senator Burston's concern for the communities in that area. When we had the banking inquiry, Pat Conroy, the<br />
member for Charlton, forced the Commonwealth Bank to stop foreclosing on a family in Williamtown. Just think<br />
what we could do if we got a royal commission into the banks if we could do that sitting at that stupid forum that<br />
the Prime Minister established.<br />
These are big problems and to simply dismiss the issue by trying to pretend that you are some expert because<br />
you are a vet beggars belief. I cannot understand that a doctor who runs a cattle ranch up in Queensland is<br />
suddenly an expert. He cannot see any clinical signs! I can tell you, you would not have seen any clinical signs in<br />
some of my mates, the boilermakers and fitters, that worked with me. There were no clinical signs for them for<br />
about 30 years before they started dying with asbestos disease and mesothelioma. We should not dismiss this<br />
matter just because so-called experts are saying these chemicals are okay. We should take every precaution we<br />
possibly can. That is why we made a range of recommendations to deal with this issue.<br />
I know there is a view that some companies do not see this as a serious problem. I am told that Canada and<br />
countries in Europe have major corporations operating within them that are very good lobbyists, and they<br />
certainly do not want any claims being made on them. In this place you almost have to talk about the Defence<br />
Force in hushed tones, as if the Defence Force can do no wrong. Every time a coalition member stands up they<br />
wrap the Australian flag around themselves and they talk about the Defence Force in hushed tones. Well the<br />
Defence Force can get it wrong too. The Defence Force is pretty well known for its capacity to avoid any legal<br />
implications for the actions that they take. Thankfully the Defence Force has some pretty smart people, but they<br />
also have some pretty smart operators trying to make sure that no litigation comes their way. So you have to take<br />
it with a grain of salt when the Defence Force says there is not a problem.<br />
I have had a brief look at what has been said about this issue. There has been a five-year analysis of these<br />
chemicals in the United States, from 2010 to 2015, called the PFOA Stewardship Program. Nobody can tell me<br />
that the US are backwards in their scientific capacity. Nobody would be arguing that. Their conclusion was that<br />
these substances should be banned. They said that they would work towards the elimination of these chemicals,<br />
and went on:<br />
EPA launched the PFOA Stewardship Program in January 2006 because of concerns about the impact of PFOA and longchain<br />
PFASs on human health and the environment, including concerns about their persistence, presence in the environment<br />
and in the blood of the general U.S. population, long half-life in people, and developmental and other adverse effects in<br />
laboratory animals.<br />
So in the US they have concluded that it has affected laboratory animals. I do not know where Senator Back's<br />
mate, the part-time farmer/part-time doctor, gets his ideas from but certainly I would be more inclined to look at<br />
the EPA in the US as a guide rather than that farmer. The companies that participated in this program included<br />
Asahi from Japan, BASF Corporation, Daikin, 3M/Dyneon and DuPont. These major corporations were involved<br />
in this program for five years, and they determined that they had to get rid of these chemicals. For the coalition to<br />
come in here and just dismiss this view is absolutely obnoxious. If it is a wind turbine it is a major health problem;<br />
if it is a chemical produced by a major multinational corporation, suck it up. That is the tenor of Senator Back's<br />
proposition.<br />
The report from coalition senators questions the value of conducting blood testing. They question every little<br />
thing. They say there have been no confirmed links, but after a five-year study the US decided to ban these<br />
chemicals. So you cannot tell me there is not a problem, and I would rather have the precautionary principle any<br />
day—the precautionary principle is absolutely essential in this.<br />
We have gone up there. Labor has been onto this from day one. I myself met with some of the fishermen in a<br />
meeting in Parliament House last year, when they were concerned about the effects on their livelihood. So I am<br />
glad that Senator Burston has joined the Labor Party in dealing with this issue.<br />
Honourable senators interjecting—<br />
Senator CAMERON: I said 'in dealing with this issue'. Senator Burston, I am very happy to support this<br />
motion. I am sure there will be other motions that you put up that I will be appalled with and will not support, but<br />
I think this one is a good start. If your career in the Senate is about doing things like this, you will have a good<br />
career. If your career in the Senate is to run some of the rhetoric and nonsense I have heard over the last few<br />
maiden speeches, I do not think your career is going to be that—<br />
CHAMBER