Closure for some, but not others: $57m to be paid to redress CFA victims

Mick Tisbury did not realise he needed closure until he learnt that a redress scheme for victims of the Fiskville cancer cluster was finally in place.

“When it was finalised a couple of days ago, I was driving home [and I] got a bit misty-eyed,” said Tisbury, Fire Rescue Victoria’s acting deputy commissioner.

“I never actually understood ‘closure’, it wasn’t until I was driving home, and just for me personally, I actually get it now. I just felt this 12-year burden lifted off my shoulders.”

Up to 87,000 people are thought to have been put at risk of exposure to highly toxic per- and poly-fluoroalkyl chemicals (PFAS) at the Country Fire Authority’s Fiskville training college, north-west of Melbourne, during its operation between 1972 and 2015.

Sixty-nine cancer cases that resulted in 16 deaths have been linked to the contaminated site.

The Victorian government announced a $57 million redress scheme on Friday for the firefighters, residents and their family members affected by the chemical contamination and its cover-up.

As many as 1300 people may be eligible for the scheme and those affected can access up to $45,000.

Tisbury, who described the PFAS contamination and an ensuing cover-up as a “dark stain” on Victoria’s history, said he would access the redress scheme himself after realising his wounds had not fully healed.

“I’m not ashamed to say that. I’ll access that. [It] will be available to everybody who registers on this redress scheme and that’s really, really important. Because this is going to rip a lot of Band-Aids off.”

Mark Potter hopes the scheme will provide support and assistance to those who need it most, including his mother.

Potter’s father Brian, a firefighter exposed to PFAS at Fiskville who tried to raise his concerns through normal channels before blowing the whistle on the CFA, an organisation he loved, died in 2014 following a series of cancers.

“For me, there will never be closure,” Potter said.

He said his father should have lived another 10 or 20 years. “But he didn’t. I still miss him every day.”

However, Potter said his father would be happy the government had recognised the wrongs of the past.

“It is good. We’re very happy. That’s the key message out of this, they’ve acknowledged us … There is this thing in the back of my mind, that this is long overdue.”

The redress scheme, launching on September 5, will come six years after the government promised it following a parliamentary inquiry.

Tisbury said he did not regret that it took the government so long to establish the scheme.

“I’d rather spend the time making sure it was a robust, fair-dinkum redress scheme,” he said.

United Firefighters Union secretary Peter Marshall thanked Tisbury for his tireless work in advocating for firefighters affected by PFAS exposure.

“Tisbury went on to develop world-first PFAS remediation schemes, launched and completed a world-first PFAS blood study, and ultimately went all the way to the United Nations to negotiate and achieve global bans on [toxic chemicals] in firefighting foam,” Marshall said.

The redress scheme will include access to mental health and medical support, as well as non-financial compensation, such as case management and counselling.

Emergency Services Minister Jaclyn Symes said it would take 12 to 13 weeks for redress to be provided following an application. The process was designed to be simple and efficient, so affected people did not have to be traumatised again by retelling their stories, she said.

“This scheme is really about listening to people, believing people and responding as a government and providing support ongoing for those that have been impacted,” Symes said.

Country Fire Authority chief officer Jason Heffernan apologised to all affected firefighters, their families, and residents.

“Shortly after the parliamentary inquiry into the Fiskville inquiry, CFA issued a very public apology. Today I stand before you to extend and reiterate that public apology. We are so deeply sorry to our members past and present,” Heffernan said.

Family members of affected people who have already died are eligible for redress under the scheme.

The individual circumstances of each application to the redress scheme will be examined, according to the state government.

The extent of participants’ exposure to PFAS and the seriousness of their illnesses will be considered in their applications. Those who apply to the scheme will not be restricted if pursuing other avenues of financial recompense, such as workers’ compensation.

The Department of Justice and Community Safety will manage the scheme independent of the CFA.

Remediation works at Fiskville were completed in 2021 and an independent audit commissioned by the Environmental Protection Authority removed remediation notices on the site.

Heffernan said the CFA board was working with the state government to consider the facility’s future use.

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