Katherine health study in $5.7m Defence aid program

THE Defence Department will fund voluntary blood testing for Katherine residents who have lived or worked inside the RAAF Base Tindal PFAS contamination zone.

The blood testing is part of a package, announced yesterday, which also includes a public health study investigating patterns of disease and how they could relate to the potentially-carcinogenic firefighting chemicals which have leached into the towns groundwater.

Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt, Defence Minster Marise Payne and NT Senator Nigel Scullion announced the testing program following months of lobbying from residents, Territory members of the Federal Opposition and the Territory Labor Government.

Mr Scullion said the Federal Government was committed to supporting Katherine residents during what he described as a difficult period.

Unfortunately, some have used the PFAS issue to play politics and to whip up unfounded fear and hysteria in the community, he said.

The program at an estimated $5.7 million cost also includes funding for mental health and counselling services. The services are planned to be available early in 2018.

Uncertainty remains about whether PFASs are carcinogenic in humans, and at what levels, although suspected cancer clusters, potentially linked to PFASs, have been identified at PFAS hot spots interstate.

NT Senator Malarndirri McCarthy said she welcomed the availability of blood testing but said Katherine residents deserved as thorough a response as those who lived nearby affected bases interstate.

This is going to be quite a long journey, she said. Katherine Mayor Fay Miller, who is due to travel to Canberra this week to speak with members of the Turnbull Government, said her first reaction was relief.

That (blood testing) was number one on the list, but there are bigger issues that need to be addressed too for the future of Katherine.

Katherine MLA Sandra Nelson said: After a year of lobbying and advocating ... I am so relieved. Opposition Leader Gary Higgins, who wrote to Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull about PFAS a fortnight ago, also welcomed the funding.

The biggest fear of Katherine residents, as is presented to me, is that they and their children will have long lasting health effects, he said in his letter to Mr Turnbull.

NT News, 4 December 2017.