Opinion: Australian Defence Force is betraying the people of Oakey
OPINION: How can the Australian Defence Force expect our respect when it completely fails to understand such a basic concept as accountability?
Opinion
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NO MAJOR institution can expect to preserve a shred of public trust if it manifestly fails to understand such a basic concept as accountability.
This is, however, exactly where the Department of Defence finds itself in relation to the serious questions raised by reporter Rhian Deutrom’s investigation into contamination of an entire Queensland township due to the long-term use of toxic chemicals at a nearby army base.
As it stands, the reputation of Defence in the southeast Queensland regional centre of Oakey right now is about as toxic as the firefighting chemicals, perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), that have leached through the soil and groundwater systems.
Residents are reporting elevated levels of cancers and other health issues, consistent with recent findings from the United States Environmental Protection Agency which linked exposure to the chemicals to pregnancy developmental issues, testicular and kidney cancers as well as thyroid, liver tissue and immune system damage.
The cruellest part of all this for the 5000 residents of Oakey is that there are no answers; no testing program for people who fear they may have been exposed to dangerous levels of the toxins, no redress for owners of properties so contaminated they are now virtually worthless, and no real engagement from a Department of Defence that seems to be just wishing the problem away.
Worse, as we report today, it now emerges that for four years between 2008-2012 local authorities were adding contaminated bore water into the drinking water supply to create a “shandy” for Oakey during the worst of the drought.
Already we know from limited blood sampling conducted by Defence that of 75 Oakey residents tested, the level of PFOS and PFOA in their blood was found to be, on average, three times higher than that of other Australians – and in some cases as high as 18 times above average.
So not only have thousands of Queenslanders been exposed to these chemicals through bore water used for washing, cooking, garden care and so forth, we can now confirm that for a four-year period many of them have also been drinking this chemical cocktail.
And yet the response to date from the Department of Defence has been risible to bordering on contemptuous.
Despite the warnings from the likes of the EPA, let alone the alarming instances of illnesses in the Oakey region, Defence argues there are no globally accepted specific health conditions which could be screened for in a health check, or determined to be caused by exposure to PFOS and PFOA. And in the “this is not actually satire” department, Defence further contends that blood testing individuals for exposure to these chemicals may be counter-productive because it would cause stress in the community.
Defence says it “understands that blood testing in the absence of any recognised criteria for human exposure may lead to an increased level of anxiety”.
Anxiety? Perhaps Defence should talk about anxiety to some of the people in Oakey who are already battling illness or worried they have spent years drinking an elixir of potential poison that will come back to haunt them?
That is the sort of logic that dictates you don’t get suspicious blemishes or lumps checked because the results might be bad news.
Quite simply, it is time people in a position to make a difference actually took ownership of the polluted mess with which residents of this Queensland town are having to contend.
Buck-passing and blame shifting – let alone Defence’s inexcusable “nothing to see here” approach – is nothing short of negligent.
This means that any level of government or arm of bureaucracy that is in a position to answer the questions and concerns of residents must start doing so immediately, and not just shifting the onus back on a Defence Department that has to date proven itself to be recalcitrant in the extreme.
This means that Queensland Health – despite Minister Cameron Dick’s wish that Defence clean up its own mess – must get involved, even if this requires the direct intervention of Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk.
It also means that other federal agencies, such as Health and possibly the Department of the Environment, should be not only asking questions, but looking at what the residents of Oakey and surrounding regions really need in the way of support and health monitoring in years to come.
This is not, after all, a single isolated incident of contamination potentially impacting on a handful of people. We are talking about 35 years’ use of these toxic chemicals, with 1.2 million litres of the stuff being used just 2km from a major regional centre.
As for Defence, it would be hoped that the highest levels of executive government place real pressure on the department to not only clean up the mess it has left behind, but to also get cracking now with addressing the very real needs of 5000 Australians – citizens that service personnel swear to protect and defend.
The residents of Oakey must be treated equitably and honestly, and not dismissed as some sort of unfortunate and inconvenient collateral damage.
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