Lee Rhiannon (NSW, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I direct my question to the Minister for Defence, Senator Payne. A representative of a major defence contractor, Aurecon Australia, at a summit on PFAS chemicals organised on behalf of the heads of EPAs in Australia and New Zealand, and the Australian government Department of the Environment and Energy, criticised the European Union's precautionary position on firefighting-foam contaminants. The Aurecon representative also made an inaccurate statement about the status of the contaminant PFOA in the Stockholm convention. Considering Aurecon is undertaking a major investigation into contamination at HMAS Albatross near Nowra and the RAAF base at Williamtown in New South Wales, do you agree that companies with contracts with Defence have a major conflict of interest when they are also asked to investigate contamination issues?