The state government's 'permanent solution' for hundreds of home owners living on land affected by PFAS pollution linked to Williamtown RAAF Base has been labelled a 'cruel hoax'.
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In the lead up to the state election in 2019, the special activation precinct (SAP) at Williamtown was touted as a 'positive permanent solution' for the PFAS situation.
Port Stephens MP Kate Washington said the area had been reduced from 10,000 to just 135 hectares, meaning only ten per cent of properties most affected by PFAS will likely fall into the new SAP.
"Just two and a half years later, the cruel hoax has finally been revealed, with hundreds of local residents this week being informed that the promised SAP will extend nowhere near their properties," Ms Washington said.
In an emailed update to residents, the Department of Planning, Industry and Environment says the precinct will be "much smaller than originally anticipated" focusing on "the area around Newcastle Airport and Williamtown RAAF Base."
In a statement issued last Wednesday, Port Stephens Council said the initial investigation area took in the suburbs of Williamtown, Fullerton Cove, Oyster Cove, Campvale and Salt Ash, and "did not limit the scope of the investigation solely to the area directly adjoining the Newcastle Airport and RAAF Base".
Coalition Against PFAS (CAP) president and Fullerton Cove resident Lindsay Clout said he was disgusted.
"Just two months ago they told us there was a 6000 hectare special activation precinct and it was going to be exactly the solution for the PFAS affected people," he said.
"Six thousand hectares covered everybody. Now I am hearing it is about 100 hectares.
"There's no 'sorry we've stuffed you around for 12 months we just don't need that much land now because it's not going to be that big'. It's deplorable.
"What else do we have to do ? We've had two parliamentary inquiries and a class action in the federal court and we are still going nowhere - we are back to where we were six years ago in 2015."
In March 2019, the Liberal candidate for Port Stephens Jaimie Abbott said the SAP would provide a framework for PFAS remediation and federal-led property buybacks.
Ms Abbott described said the activation zone at that time as "a positive permanent solution for the PFAS situation".
"Under the environment act, the polluter pays and the federal government is the polluter in this situation," she said.
At the project's launch in May, then NSW Deputy Premier John Barilaro described the special activation zone project as a "game-changer" for the region, involving the creation of a national and international defence, aerospace and advanced manufacturing hub, to generate future investment and employment opportunities in the region.
In addition to infrastructure, the precinct's 10,000 hectare footprint was likely to take-in part of the PFAS-contaminated red zone surrounding the RAAF base.
"The initial investigation is the land acquisition and what parts (are needed) and this may become a remedy for some parts of the land that has been contaminated," Mr Barilaro said.
"We have always identified this as an opportunity and we will look at all those opportunities going forward."
A draft master plan for the SAP is expected to go on exhibition later this year or early 2022.
