THE Queensland community of Oakey has followed Williamtown in launching a class action against the Department of Defence over contamination from fire fighting foams used on Defence bases over decades.
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Shine Lawyers announced it had filed the class action with the Federal Court on behalf of more than 450 affected Oakey residents, only three days after the Newcastle Herald revealed a world-leading expert on contaminants at the centre of the Williamtown scandal said it was “possible and indeed probable” the chemicals are carcinogenic.
The Herald series also revealed water in a drain at the centre of cluster fears near the Williamtown RAAF Base had staggering levels of the chemicals, and at least 24 people who had lived along Cabbage Tree Road had developed cancer in the past 15 years.
The Oakey legal case is believed to be the second Australian class action over fire fighting foam contaminants perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) after 400 Williamtown residents launched a class action through Gadens Lawyers in November.
More than 100 American communities are involved in class actions against fire fighting foam manufacturers and users.
“This action and the Williamtown action will pave the way to justice for those communities which have suffered,” Shine Lawyers special counsel Peter Shannon said in a statement before the formal announcement at Toowoomba on Tuesday.
“In Oakey hundreds of innocent families have been, and continue to be, exposed. Many have invested everything they have into this town and now all their hard work means nothing. They’re effectively trapped and can’t sell their properties or move their kids out of the contamination zone,” he said.
“The community has suffered under this cloud of contamination for years with no end in sight until now. Today marks the first step towards justice for the people of Oakey.”
Williamtown and Surrounds Residents Action Group spokesperson Rhianna Gorfine said the news was “fantastic”.
“Williamtown and surrounds welcomes the news of Oakey’s official class action proceedings. All affected communities by Defence contamination stand together for justice,” Ms Gorfine said.
“We renew our call for the government to help the affected communities immediately, to give the residents a future and not put us all through a lengthy court battle.
“The government can start with settlement proceedings right now.”
The Oakey case alleges toxic fire fighting foam chemicals have spread from the Oakey Defence base to nearby land, water and food sources, and into people’s blood streams.
“While we believe this is the worst contamination site in Australia, there are more than 60 Defence bases around the country which have exposed locals to the same toxic chemicals,” Mr Shannon said.
Mr Shannon said he expected the Federal Court would consult with the residents group’s lawyers and lawyers for the Department of Defence in a few weeks to establish a plan for how the case will be heard.
The Department of Defence will be expected to file its defence within the next few months.
Philippe Grandjean, an adjunct professor of environmental health at the Harvard School of Public Health, and world-leading expert on the fire fighting foam chemicals, said they can suppress the body’s immune system.
When asked whether that could be one way exposure to the chemicals could lead to increased rates of cancer, Professor Grandjean said it was “entirely possible”.
“With immune dysfunction, the body does not pick up the abnormal cells that are spreading and developing into a cancer,” he said.
Professor Grandjean said population studies had not been conducted on a large enough scale to make a judgement about cancer, but his gut reaction was that people should minimise their exposure to the chemicals as much as possible.
