{"id":5426,"date":"2020-03-11T04:54:44","date_gmt":"2020-03-11T04:54:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/?p=5426"},"modified":"2020-03-11T04:54:44","modified_gmt":"2020-03-11T04:54:44","slug":"landmark-pfas-settlement-welcomed-while-government-response-to-inquiry-disappoints","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/2020\/03\/11\/landmark-pfas-settlement-welcomed-while-government-response-to-inquiry-disappoints\/","title":{"rendered":"Landmark PFAS Settlement Welcomed While Government Response To Inquiry Disappoints"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Australian Greens Senator for NSW Dr Mehreen Faruqi has welcomed\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/aph.us20.list-manage.com\/track\/click?u=1f20735217fb7df5078bb8602&amp;id=ab263e81dc&amp;e=5cb91fd340\">today\u2019s news<\/a>\u00a0that class action participants have reached a settlement of $212.5 million with the government over PFAS contamination, though has labelled the recent\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/aph.us20.list-manage.com\/track\/click?u=1f20735217fb7df5078bb8602&amp;id=c95b54e7c4&amp;e=5cb91fd340\">government response<\/a>\u00a0to the federal PFAS inquiry as extremely disappointing.<br \/>\n<strong>Senator Faruqi said:<\/strong><br \/>\n\u201cThis huge settlement is welcome news for residents who have pushed for the class action. It points to the serious loss experienced by affected communities, and will go some way to alleviating the damage.<br \/>\n\u201cHowever, there are many who have been affected by PFAS contamination, who the government has left out in the cold.<br \/>\n\u201cIn light of the settlement, it\u2019s extremely disappointing that in its long-awaited inquiry response, the government has refused to commit to even considering compensation for all affected property owners, including through possible buybacks.<br \/>\n\u201c\u2018Polluter pays\u2019 is a basic principle of environmental law and justice. The onus should not be on victims to fight for justice when their lives have been upended.<br \/>\n\u201cThe government says it supports resolution of legal claims \u201cby agreement, not litigation, where appropriate\u201d. Well, let\u2019s see them come to the table.<br \/>\n\u201cThe nation-wide damage wrought by toxic PFAS chemicals has been extensive and people have suffered for too long.<br \/>\n\u201cAfter residents have waited more than 15 months for the government response to the report, this document is lukewarm, non-committal, and in some aspects completely disrespectful.<br \/>\n\u201cI will continue to work with the community and in parliament to keep this issue front and centre, until the government prioritises needs of the affected communities.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Australian Greens Senator for NSW Dr Mehreen Faruqi has welcomed\u00a0today\u2019s news\u00a0that class action participants have reached a settlement of $212.5 million with the government over PFAS contamination, though has labelled the recent\u00a0government response\u00a0to the federal PFAS inquiry as extremely disappointing. Senator Faruqi said: \u201cThis huge settlement is welcome news for residents who have pushed for &hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/2020\/03\/11\/landmark-pfas-settlement-welcomed-while-government-response-to-inquiry-disappoints\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Landmark PFAS Settlement Welcomed While Government Response To Inquiry Disappoints&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5426","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-aussie"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5426","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5426"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5426\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5426"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5426"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5426"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}