THE Morrison government continues to refuse to hand over its response to the parliamentary inquiry into toxic firefighting foam contamination, claiming it hasn't been completed.
It has been ten months since Queensland MP Andrew Laming, who chaired the inquiry, broke Liberal ranks making an emotional speech in parliament calling on the Coalition government to compensate residents.
Greens Senator Mehreen Faruqi asked the government this week why it had failed to table a response.
In September, Ms Faruqi teamed with Labor senators Tony Sheldon, Malarndirri McCarthy and Kimberley Kitching moving a motion to order the production of the government's PFAS response.
On Wednesday, deputy leader of the government in the Senate Simon Birmingham confirmed the response was unavailable.
"That response has not yet been finalised and therefore we're not in a position to be able to table a response not yet finished," he said.
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Ms Faruqi said people, including Williamtown residents, were at breaking point and the government needed to act immediately.
"Every day the government delays responding to this report shows its contempt not only for the Senate, but for the thousands of people who have lived with contamination of their land and their water caused by the government," she said
"It is contempt for no less than 27 primarily regional communities that live near Defence bases, across practically every state and territory in Australia. In New South Wales alone, there are four sites under active management for PFAS and three more under investigation."
Coalition against PFAS president and Fullerton Cove resident Lindsay Clout said the delay was consistent with the government's response to the PFAS scandal.
"They are just ignoring us," he said. "The longer they wait, the worse this is getting. Their procrastination is turning this into a disaster."
The joint parliamentary inquiry called on the government to compensate people whose property values have been devastated by the contamination, ban the toxins and appoint a Coordinator-General to take over the handling of the unfolding environmental crisis.
The per- and poly-fluoralkyl chemicals [PFAS] have been linked to a slew of health effects.
"The inquiry was an opportunity for the community to have the government hear them," Ms Faruqi said.
"But here we are, almost twelve months on, and the government still won't release a response.
"Our committee made a wide range of recommendations that would go some way to resolving this issue."
"What exactly does the government object to?"
