The Hon Andrew Leigh MP
Assistant Minister for Productivity, Competition, Charities and Treasury
E&OE TRANSCRIPT
RADIO INTERVIEW
ABC RADIO ILLAWARRA, BREAKFAST WITH MELINDA JAMES
FRIDAY, 29 MAY 2026
SUBJECTS: Wreck Bay Community; PFAS contamination; Legal action against 3M
MELINDA JAMES: Andrew Leigh is the federal Member for Fenner, which oversees Wreck Bay and has been good enough to give us some of his time this morning. Andrew Leigh, good morning.
ANDREW LEIGH: Good morning Mel, great to be with you.
MELINDA JAMES: Look, we heard a little bit from the Attorney-General earlier this morning about the Commonwealth's decision to pursue this but just tell our listeners now why the federal government is doing this?
ANDREW LEIGH: Well this is, as you said, the biggest case that the Commonwealth has brought and the action we're bringing is based on allegations that 3M withheld its own environmental testing that showed that there was an adverse environmental effect to the 3M firefighting foam, that they misrepresented its biodegradability and that they made misrepresentations around its impact on the environment.
As you know, the Commonwealth has settled for $22 million with people in the Wreck Bay community. Defence has spent millions of dollars around the country cleaning up the effects of these firefighting foam. And this is about us looking to recoup over a billion dollars that we have spent on remediation.
MELINDA JAMES: Wow. So that's what the government has spent so far –over a billion dollars on remediation?
ANDREW LEIGH: That's right. Remediation; mitigation. There's been a lot of work in Wreck Bay, not just the settlement, but also a new 11-kilometre pipeline that links up to the Shoalhaven to provide clean drinking water. There have been significant investments around the country as we've worked to clean up the effects of this PFAS firefighting foam.
MELINDA JAMES: Now as I mentioned, of course, your interest is that your electorate – your very interesting electorate, which of course includes parts of the ACT but because of the federal status of Jervis Bay, includes that part of Jervis Bay as well – Jervis Bay territory. So the Wreck Bay community, as you mentioned, got the $22 million settlement as a result of that court case against the Commonwealth. So could this mean more money for the Wreck Bay residents who've been affected by this?
ANDREW LEIGH: Look, I don't want to get people's hopes up. This is primarily about the Commonwealth looking to recoup from 3M, money that's been spent around the country. But it's certainly true that it provides more opportunities for us to continue to work on remediation. In addition to the remediation settlement with people in the Wreck Bay, in addition to the water pipeline, we're also investing in housing in Wreck Bay. I've fought hard for housing remediation. There's $45 million over eight years going into work on upgrading houses there.
We're also seeing a new mobile phone tower, recognising the challenges of mobile connectivity in the area. Again, the Commonwealth is supporting Telstra with putting in place that tower. So there's considerable Commonwealth investment there for a community with extraordinary long continuing links to the land and which is so critical to this part of the world.
MELINDA JAMES: Yeah. Just finally, one of the big issues in relation to the settlement that was reached with the Commonwealth Government was the fact that the people of Wreck Bay do have such close and intimate, deep connections to the land and the sea there. And to not be able to fish, et cetera, and use their land in the way they would wish to is devastating for the people of Wreck Bay. You would have had lots of communications with them. There are also plenty of issues around health effects and potential causes of cancer clusters, et cetera, that people are very concerned about there. Where are things at in relation to the residents of Wreck Bay and how they're feeling about all we know now about PFAS contamination?
ANDREW LEIGH: Yeah I mean, that settlement was in 2023. There was about $5 million which went to the lawyers who ran the case and about $17 million distributed among the eligible Wreck Bay residents. And then in addition to that, the Commonwealth has continued to do clean-up work in the area. I know there's a lot of disquiet over this but I also found last time I popped into the school, a great sense of hope and possibility. The early learning centre and the school really are linchpins in the community and there's a lot of exciting work being done to connect to country.
Also the work that's being done with the Booderee National Park and its important anniversary and the upcoming hand back. So I think there's a lot to be optimistic about as the community works through the challenges that have been thrown at it.
MELINDA JAMES: Member for Fenner Andrew Leigh, thank you so much for talking to us this morning.
ANDREW LEIGH: Thanks very much Mel.
MELINDA JAMES: That is Dr Andrew Leigh MP – the Member for Fenner about the pursuit of 3M by the Commonwealth Government. That’s $2 billion in damages to recoup the money that the government has so far paid out in both settlements – remediation as well, of the PFAS contamination across all of those defence bases in Australia.
ENDS