Senate Select Committee on PFAS (per and polyfluoroalkyl substances)
4 September 2025
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Senate Select Committee on PFAS (per and polyfluoroalkyl substances) Australian Parliament
10:38 - 13:42
Speaker 39
Hello, and thank you all for coming. I declare open this hearing of the senate select committee on PFAS into the extent regulation and management of PFAS in Australia. I acknowledge the Ngunnawal and Ngambri peoples and thank them for caring for lands and waters here for thousands of generations. For the benefit of witnesses, I am the chair, senator Lydia Thorpe, and I am joined today by the deputy chair, senator Varun Gosch, and new committee members, senator Ali Whittaker and senator Ross Caddell. Senator Peter Wishwilson is joining us remotely.
Welcome all. These are public proceedings being video streamed live via the parliament's website, and a Hansard transcript is being made. I remind all witnesses that in giving evidence to the committee, they are protected by parliamentary privilege. It is unlawful for anyone to threaten or disadvantage a witness on account of evidence given to a committee, and such action may be treated by the senate as a contempt. It is also a contempt to give false or misleading evidence.
Witnesses also have a right to request to be heard in camera. The senate has resolved that an officer of a department of the Commonwealth or of a state shall not be asked to give opinions on matters of policy and shall be given reasonable opportunity to refer questions asked of the officer to superior officers or to a minister. This resolution does not preclude questions asking for explanations of policies or factual questions about when and how policies were adopted. If a witness objects to answering a question, they should state the ground upon which the objection is made, and the committee will determine whether it will insist on an answer, having regard to the ground which it is claimed. If the committee determines to insist on an answer, a witness may request that the answer be given in camera.
I remind senators of their obligations under the behavior code for Australian par... Parliamentarians to treat witnesses with dignity dignity, courtesy, fairness, and respect. And I remind committee members and any witnesses who are appearing via video conference to mute their microphones when not speaking and remember to unmute again when it is your turn to speak. Our hearing today is a government agency's panel, and I welcome representatives from the Department of Climate Change, Energy and Environment and Water, Department of Health Disability and Aging, Department of Defense, Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communication, Sports, and the Arts, Air Services Australia, National Health and Medical Research Council, and Food Standards Australia and New Zealand. Great.
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