Doug Cameron (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Human Services) Share this | Hansard source

Anyway, well done for bringing this to the Senate. Labor has had inquiries into this issue. This is a big issue for the people of Williamtown.

I want to finish on this. This is not about a Senate inquiry hearing from some farmer-come-doctor in northern Queensland who cannot see any symptoms. This is about the precautionary principle. This is about taking steps to ensure that people who may have been affected by this are looked after and that, if they are affected, they are compensated. That is the issue here. It is pretty simple. When some of the weirder members in the Liberal Party—and their numbers are getting greater by the day in this place—simply say that wind turbines are a problem but firefighting chemicals are all okay, I really just do not get it. I stand beside the community in Williamtown, as does the local member, Meryl Swanson, and as does the Labor Party. We want the government to do more. The minister, Marise Payne, has only been up there once since this happened. I do not think that is good enough. I think the minister should be in here telling us exactly what is happening and how this can be fast-tracked. In fact, the minister should be in here now supporting this motion to get this resolved and not sending her minions in here to give us the nonsense that we just heard from Senator Back.

So I support the motion, and I hope that we can provide some support and some comfort to the residents of Williamtown and other areas that are affected by this. I am a New South Wales senator, so I particularly know about the issues in Williamtown. I am not across the issues elsewhere, but the principles will be the same. When multinational corporations are producing chemicals that could be carcinogenic, are long-lasting in the soil and are polluting the water system, something has to be done about it. I do not think the government is treating it seriously enough, so I welcome the opportunity to continue our concern about this issue. Again, Senator Burston, thanks for bringing this to the Senate today.