National protocols on PFAS contamination are progressing

Currently, there are no guidelines as to what should happen when producers such as central Queensland cattleman, Larry Acton, find themselves at what's called 'point source contamination'.

In Mr Acton's case, the bore water at his property near Biloela tested positive to high concentrations of PFAS allegedly from the nearby Callide power station which used the toxic PFAS fighting foam that subsequently leached into the underground aquifer.

In response to questions from ACM Agri, Cattle Australia CEO Dr Chris Parker said his organisation would be working with Safemeat about how they might be able to provide advice to producers such as Mr Acton where there was point source contamination.

Safemeat Partners chair John Webster said all the state jurisdictions - environment and agriculture - were represented at a meeting of Safemeat's PFAS working committee on April 30.

"There has been some work done at Commonwealth and at a state level on what to do about point source contamination and they're the sorts of things that was in the old brief looking at 'do you change fodder, do you change water etc etc," he said.

"And we're still in the process of collating that information and that's the information that Cattle Australia was talking about.

"We hope there's enough in it to be able to update our PFAS information sheets just to provide that general information...about what to do at point source contamination."

Mr Webster said changing fodder and water were just some of the logical ones to look with PFAS contamination in cases such as Larry Acton's.

"And as it goes forward there's the possibility...that then can be included in the LPA standards as a way of making it available for people as well, but it's still a work in progress."

Mr Webster said they were doing whatever could be done to mitigate any impact of point source contamination of PFAS

"We don't know what it is yet, but we're going to pull that together with Cattle Australia and then make that available so people have that information," he said.

Mr Webster could give an explicit timeline as to when the protocols would be completed, but said there was a sense of urgency for people like Mr Acton.

"Larry very generously provided us with a letter detailing his concerns which we tabled at the last Safemeat meeting and it's fantastic to have a meeting where you've got a real life example sitting there - it certainly adds to that point of urgency if you like when you can see the impact on individuals

Mr Acton said he welcomed the fact that it sounded like Safemeat was recognising the problem of PFAS for producers like himself.

"It's a matter of logistically making it work for everybody that's affected. But I don't think that they understand that's there's a lot of people likely to be affected," he said.

Mr Acton has asked CS Energy which manages Callide Power Station to supply him with clean drinking water for his cattle.

CS Energy provides cleaning drinking water to Mr Acton and several neighbouring properties for their households and gardens, but it has declined to provide Mr Acton clean drinking water for his cattle based on the current advice of the Queensland department of agriculture.