Oakey residents write desperate letter pleading for help to fix toxic town

THEY live in a Queensland town where land is deemed worthless due to contamination caused by the Australian Army, but the Defence Minister is refusing to fund important health checks. This is their plea.

Darby Tunnah trains race horses on a property in the town’s contamination plume and said he was first alerted to the problem after exercising his horses in the equine pool. Photo: Claudia Baxter

OAKEY residents have drafted a letter to Defence Minister Marise Payne in a desperate bid to have the town’s contamination concerns heard by authorities.

TOXIC TOWN: Oakey residents told contaminated land is worthless

Independent Senator Nick Xenophon met more than 60 people from the region yesterday and prepared a letter demanding assistance for those affected by the town’s worsening contamination crisis. The letter is expected to be sent to Senator Payne early this week.

The move comes after The Courier-Mail reported the Defence Department is refusing to fund ongoing blood tests for locals exposed to toxic firefighting foam chemicals, despite recommendations by an independent Senate inquiry, experts and politicians.

Initial blood tests of 75 residents revealed the levels of perfluorooctanesulfonate (PFOS) and perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOA) in some were up to 18 times higher than in other Australians, with rising concerns for those who weren’t tested.

CHEMICALS: Oakey groundwater contaminated by army

Senator Xenophon told The Courier-Mail residents felt “completely abandoned” by the Defence Department.

“If a private company was responsible for this level of contamination, the Federal and State Governments would have been on top of them like a tonne of bricks but instead there has been a lot of buck passing,” he said.

Defence Minister Marise Payne. Picture: Jason Edwards

Residents of the town feel “completely abandoned”. Picture: David Martinelli

Senator Payne said Defence was “not a health authority” and would not fund blood tests as Australian guidelines suggested there was no treatment to reduce PFOS and PFOA levels in the body.

Primary producers in Oakey are worried their livestock could also be in danger from drinking and swimming in the town’s contaminated bore water.

Darby Tunnah trains race horses on a property in the town’s contamination plume and said he was first alerted to the problem after exercising his horses in the equine pool.

“First thing in the morning when you swim a horse in the pool, the water will froth up behind them and leave a trail of foam, like bubbly detergent,” Mr Tunnah said. “We were told that’s the chemicals from the bore water”.

Mr Tunnah had his own horse’s blood tested which came back with alarmingly high levels of contaminants.

“It’s worrying because you just don’t know if it could affect their health 10 years down the track … no one knows much,” he said.