EDITORIAL
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Some Katherine folk are about to receive some compensation for the property price free-fall suffered from PFAS contamination.
But not everyone, and it may just be a one-off.
Some have suggested the lawyers went after the easy one first, in regards the class action.
The word is out about Katherine being a PFAS town, the biggest in Australia.
That ugly reputation was only enhanced this week when it received the biggest single payout for the class actions.
Looking back, it would have to have been the high pool PFAS result back in 2017 which brought it all home.
The chemical contamination of this town is so bad the water in its pool is 15 times the allowed limit for drinking water.
Everybody out.
It made the news all around Australia.
At the time some officials were saying it's not so bad, the recreation standard was only broken by a bit, just don't get pool water in your mouth.
Yeah, right.
One of the many incredibly stupid statements made in Katherine about PFAS.
The water restrictions because of a spike in drinking water contamination didn't help either.
At one stage one local responded to this paper that PFAS is being made to sound so good all of Australia should be showering in it.
Tell that to the folk at Werribee or Bacchus Marsh where the Victorian Government might be sending PFAS contaminated soil from a city transport project for dumping.
To them PFAS is a cancer risk they intend to avoid and they are already marching in the streets to protect themselves, their families and their property investments.
Defence has coughed up this time because - firstly, they did it, and secondly, PFAS is toxic.
So Katherine has had a win.
We don't know the size of it for each individual but after everyone has had their whack, we hope there's something left.
But here's the warning.
Not everyone is sharing in it.
Just those property owners at a certain point of time in a certain location in Katherine will share in the compensation.
And does it really compensate people for paradise lost? Hardly.
This is a forever chemical, an incredibly sticky hard to destroy so-and-so.
The money goes in the bank and out again.
PFAS will stay here for a long time.
You shouldn't eat the eggs, the fish downstream of the bridge are contaminated, even the bush foods.
Defence is saying this is a one-off as far as property is concerned, reading the court documents there is mention of Shine Lawyers keeping out of the place, and those who stayed opted in, to opt out of any future action.
There will be future action on health issues, you can see that one coming a mile off.
But that's going to be harder to prove, especially until science gets its act sorted out, PFAS is relatively new.
It could be years down the track.
Future generations of Katherine residents are going to have to deal with PFAS as well, and they won't have any trifling compo from Defence to keep them quiet.
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