1 00:00:00,240 --> 00:00:04,080 Speaker 1: The Northern Territories joined a National Coordinating Body for PFAS, 2 00:00:04,519 --> 00:00:10,640 Speaker 1: which aims to drive coordinated action across all levels of government. 3 00:00:11,200 --> 00:00:13,400 Speaker 1: Now we know that the body is part of the 4 00:00:13,400 --> 00:00:16,560 Speaker 1: federal government's response to the review of land users around 5 00:00:16,640 --> 00:00:21,040 Speaker 1: defense space is impacted by PFAS contamination. Joining us on 6 00:00:21,480 --> 00:00:25,360 Speaker 1: the line is the Assistant Minister for Defense, Peter Khalil. 7 00:00:25,480 --> 00:00:28,920 Speaker 1: Good morning to you, Peter, Morning Katie. How are you yeah? 8 00:00:28,960 --> 00:00:31,520 Speaker 1: Really good? Thank you so much for your time this morning. 9 00:00:32,159 --> 00:00:34,240 Speaker 1: Now can you tell me more what is the aim 10 00:00:34,280 --> 00:00:36,120 Speaker 1: of the National Coordinating Body? 11 00:00:37,400 --> 00:00:40,680 Speaker 2: Well, the National Court or the NCB as we call it, 12 00:00:40,720 --> 00:00:43,840 Speaker 2: is set up really to be a body that actually 13 00:00:43,920 --> 00:00:48,440 Speaker 2: takes action on PFAS remediation, addressing the PFAS problem which 14 00:00:48,479 --> 00:00:50,920 Speaker 2: is across the country but certainly in parts of the 15 00:00:51,040 --> 00:00:54,640 Speaker 2: NT such as the Tindall Base, and also being able 16 00:00:54,680 --> 00:00:57,280 Speaker 2: to work with local communities. We're setting up local working 17 00:00:57,280 --> 00:01:01,360 Speaker 2: groups that will report feedback into the end. NCB is 18 00:01:01,400 --> 00:01:04,679 Speaker 2: going to be made up of ministers from state and 19 00:01:04,800 --> 00:01:08,880 Speaker 2: territory governments. I met with your Chief Minister last week 20 00:01:09,000 --> 00:01:11,880 Speaker 2: when I was up up in Darwin and really looking 21 00:01:11,880 --> 00:01:13,959 Speaker 2: forward to working with one of your ministers I think 22 00:01:14,480 --> 00:01:17,400 Speaker 2: he's going to be involved in that in that NCB 23 00:01:17,560 --> 00:01:20,120 Speaker 2: and the working group as well for Tindalls. So it's 24 00:01:20,200 --> 00:01:23,880 Speaker 2: really about getting that policy setting right, making sure that 25 00:01:23,880 --> 00:01:26,959 Speaker 2: we're engaged with communities and actually working on the remediation 26 00:01:27,080 --> 00:01:29,480 Speaker 2: of PFAS, which is a real problem across country. 27 00:01:29,680 --> 00:01:32,280 Speaker 1: What kind of people or who has been appointed to 28 00:01:32,400 --> 00:01:33,240 Speaker 1: that body. 29 00:01:34,200 --> 00:01:37,280 Speaker 2: Well, we opened up expressions of interest for the working 30 00:01:37,280 --> 00:01:39,200 Speaker 2: groups that the NCB is going to be made up 31 00:01:39,280 --> 00:01:43,080 Speaker 2: of representatives from the Commonwealth obviously Defense which is ME, 32 00:01:44,040 --> 00:01:52,080 Speaker 2: and then state ministers and territory representatives as well and departments. 33 00:01:52,080 --> 00:01:54,920 Speaker 2: So basically the department representatives from ME to the states 34 00:01:54,920 --> 00:01:58,320 Speaker 2: and territories will be on the National Coordinating Body, and 35 00:01:58,400 --> 00:02:00,720 Speaker 2: that body is going to be meeting and then working 36 00:02:00,760 --> 00:02:04,560 Speaker 2: with local community groups through the working group model, where 37 00:02:04,600 --> 00:02:06,600 Speaker 2: there will be expressions of interest opening up for the 38 00:02:06,640 --> 00:02:11,760 Speaker 2: working groups where local community members, community leaders, individuals who 39 00:02:11,800 --> 00:02:13,800 Speaker 2: want to put their hand up who have been affected 40 00:02:13,800 --> 00:02:16,679 Speaker 2: as stakeholders by pfas will be able to get onto 41 00:02:16,680 --> 00:02:17,560 Speaker 2: those working groups. 42 00:02:18,040 --> 00:02:21,079 Speaker 1: Any idea when that first meeting or how soon it's 43 00:02:21,120 --> 00:02:24,080 Speaker 1: going to actually happen yet, the. 44 00:02:24,080 --> 00:02:27,040 Speaker 2: First meeting of the PFAS National Coordinating Body is going 45 00:02:27,040 --> 00:02:30,520 Speaker 2: to be convening on the tenth of November, and I 46 00:02:30,560 --> 00:02:33,880 Speaker 2: know that the Department of the Chief Minister and the 47 00:02:33,919 --> 00:02:36,480 Speaker 2: Cabinet will be joining this meeting and leading some of 48 00:02:36,520 --> 00:02:40,720 Speaker 2: the important initiatives of the NCB as we introduce in 49 00:02:40,919 --> 00:02:45,079 Speaker 2: the Northern Territory. So, Minister Bergoline, one of your ministers 50 00:02:45,360 --> 00:02:48,239 Speaker 2: will be briefed on the outcomes of each meeting, will 51 00:02:48,280 --> 00:02:50,160 Speaker 2: be briefed on the outcomes of those meetings from our 52 00:02:50,200 --> 00:02:53,480 Speaker 2: departmental officials obviously, and what we want to do also 53 00:02:53,840 --> 00:02:56,600 Speaker 2: as given Tindall is one of the sites, is make 54 00:02:56,639 --> 00:02:59,480 Speaker 2: sure that we set up that working group in Kindall. 55 00:02:59,560 --> 00:03:02,280 Speaker 2: Now we've done one in Williamtown which is the raft 56 00:03:02,320 --> 00:03:05,480 Speaker 2: based down there as a model or we're working towards 57 00:03:05,520 --> 00:03:06,799 Speaker 2: that model. We want to set one up to the 58 00:03:06,840 --> 00:03:09,640 Speaker 2: Northern Territory in Tindrill, probably early next year. 59 00:03:10,200 --> 00:03:13,160 Speaker 1: And what kind of new initiatives and solutions do you 60 00:03:13,240 --> 00:03:16,440 Speaker 1: reckon we might see for the Northern Territory once things 61 00:03:16,480 --> 00:03:17,760 Speaker 1: get sort of kicking along. 62 00:03:19,160 --> 00:03:21,480 Speaker 2: Yeah, Look, it is a real issue up there in 63 00:03:21,560 --> 00:03:24,560 Speaker 2: Tindall and Catherrine, I think, and I've looked at I've 64 00:03:24,600 --> 00:03:26,640 Speaker 2: just come into the job obviously, and I'm one of 65 00:03:26,639 --> 00:03:28,720 Speaker 2: the priorities I have is to take action to actually 66 00:03:28,760 --> 00:03:32,239 Speaker 2: address some of these issues at Williamtown and Tindall and 67 00:03:32,320 --> 00:03:35,920 Speaker 2: Catherine and Oak as well in Queensland. There are elevated 68 00:03:35,920 --> 00:03:39,760 Speaker 2: PFAS levels in Catherine which is associated with the use 69 00:03:39,760 --> 00:03:43,320 Speaker 2: of PFAS contaminated groundwater, and so there's warnings up there 70 00:03:43,360 --> 00:03:46,440 Speaker 2: by the Northern Territory Government around of cautionary advice around 71 00:03:46,520 --> 00:03:50,360 Speaker 2: locally caught fish and some bush foods. When we discovered 72 00:03:50,360 --> 00:03:52,080 Speaker 2: this in twenty nineteen, where you had the sort of 73 00:03:52,080 --> 00:03:55,760 Speaker 2: issues of the drinking bore water and the elevated risks, 74 00:03:55,920 --> 00:04:00,000 Speaker 2: we took actions. Defense has operated too groundwater treatment plans 75 00:04:00,600 --> 00:04:03,560 Speaker 2: on Tindal to remove prefas from the groundwater and reduce 76 00:04:03,560 --> 00:04:05,840 Speaker 2: the amount of prefas that moves off base. It's all 77 00:04:05,880 --> 00:04:09,600 Speaker 2: about containing it. Actually, we've treated over three billion leaders 78 00:04:09,600 --> 00:04:12,000 Speaker 2: of prefas contaminat groundwater to date since we started that 79 00:04:12,080 --> 00:04:15,200 Speaker 2: in twenty nineteen. And we've also looked at solutions for 80 00:04:15,280 --> 00:04:18,080 Speaker 2: the long term water supply for Catherine. So Defense has 81 00:04:18,120 --> 00:04:21,840 Speaker 2: funded the construction of a permanent groundwater treatment plant in Catherine, 82 00:04:21,880 --> 00:04:23,880 Speaker 2: which treats up to about ten million leaders of water 83 00:04:23,920 --> 00:04:27,280 Speaker 2: per day, and then separate to that, we've funded and 84 00:04:27,360 --> 00:04:30,279 Speaker 2: set up one hundred and eleven rainwater tanks across eighty 85 00:04:30,360 --> 00:04:35,279 Speaker 2: three adjoining properties for local properties to address some of 86 00:04:35,279 --> 00:04:39,240 Speaker 2: those issues visa the groundwater through those tanks. So a 87 00:04:39,240 --> 00:04:41,919 Speaker 2: lot of efforts being done to remediate the land and 88 00:04:41,960 --> 00:04:46,920 Speaker 2: stop further spreads of PREFAS. And I think that eventually 89 00:04:47,000 --> 00:04:50,480 Speaker 2: the working group intendall, we really want their expertise, local 90 00:04:50,480 --> 00:04:53,760 Speaker 2: community understanding about what we need to do down on 91 00:04:53,839 --> 00:04:56,880 Speaker 2: the ground level. And that's why I'm so keen to 92 00:04:57,080 --> 00:04:57,880 Speaker 2: get moving on this. 93 00:04:58,120 --> 00:05:00,760 Speaker 1: Look, I know a lot of people still have real concerns. 94 00:05:00,760 --> 00:05:02,880 Speaker 1: We've got a lot of listeners that are in Catherine, 95 00:05:03,279 --> 00:05:06,440 Speaker 1: you know, around that PFAS contamination. What would you say 96 00:05:06,480 --> 00:05:08,320 Speaker 1: to them this morning if they're thinking, you know, this 97 00:05:08,560 --> 00:05:11,400 Speaker 1: just hasn't happened quickly enough and it doesn't go far enough. 98 00:05:12,760 --> 00:05:15,520 Speaker 2: Yeah, Look, I say to the local community, everything, I mean, 99 00:05:16,040 --> 00:05:18,560 Speaker 2: everything is being done that we can do. Defense is 100 00:05:18,560 --> 00:05:19,840 Speaker 2: actually ahead of the curve. I mean, this is a 101 00:05:19,880 --> 00:05:23,040 Speaker 2: global problem by the locati. I mean PFAS is known 102 00:05:23,080 --> 00:05:26,560 Speaker 2: as the forever chemical. There are massive class actions happening 103 00:05:26,839 --> 00:05:28,920 Speaker 2: in the US and other parts of the world against 104 00:05:28,920 --> 00:05:33,200 Speaker 2: the company defense. You know, when we found out about 105 00:05:33,240 --> 00:05:36,240 Speaker 2: the effects of this very early on, started to put 106 00:05:36,680 --> 00:05:39,480 Speaker 2: billions of We've spent billions of dollars one hundreds of millions, 107 00:05:39,480 --> 00:05:43,200 Speaker 2: if not billions of dollars on remediation efforts across areas 108 00:05:43,200 --> 00:05:47,120 Speaker 2: of our responsibility, so the bases and then primarily as 109 00:05:47,160 --> 00:05:49,880 Speaker 2: well making sure that the spread of p FAS does 110 00:05:49,920 --> 00:05:53,200 Speaker 2: not go off base and impact local communities and where 111 00:05:53,200 --> 00:05:56,479 Speaker 2: it has, working with those local communities to remediate and 112 00:05:56,520 --> 00:05:59,240 Speaker 2: so my message to the people of Catherine is we're 113 00:05:59,279 --> 00:06:03,120 Speaker 2: doing everything we can and to address the problem. We 114 00:06:03,160 --> 00:06:06,080 Speaker 2: want to work with the local community and work with 115 00:06:06,160 --> 00:06:09,560 Speaker 2: local community leaders, indigenous leaders. We want to work with 116 00:06:09,800 --> 00:06:13,159 Speaker 2: people who are being impacted. And that's why I've moved 117 00:06:13,200 --> 00:06:15,400 Speaker 2: very quickly since I've got sworn into set up the 118 00:06:15,480 --> 00:06:19,520 Speaker 2: National Coordinating Body to give it real teeth from the 119 00:06:19,600 --> 00:06:22,560 Speaker 2: highest levels of state, territory and commalth governments and then 120 00:06:22,600 --> 00:06:25,200 Speaker 2: down to those working groups who have the expertise and 121 00:06:25,240 --> 00:06:27,880 Speaker 2: the issues that they're facing and have that two way 122 00:06:27,960 --> 00:06:31,719 Speaker 2: coordination so we can know when we do something, we're 123 00:06:31,720 --> 00:06:34,240 Speaker 2: doing it with the full backing of the community, and 124 00:06:34,279 --> 00:06:36,840 Speaker 2: we work and address their issues directly. 125 00:06:36,760 --> 00:06:41,480 Speaker 1: Well, Assistant Minister for Defense Peter Khalil, really appreciate your 126 00:06:41,480 --> 00:06:43,479 Speaker 1: time this morning. Thanks so much for having a chat 127 00:06:43,520 --> 00:06:43,880 Speaker 1: with us. 128 00:06:44,520 --> 00:06:45,840 Speaker 2: Thanks Katie, thank you.