A border resident has raised concerns about the potential long-term health impacts caused by toxic PFAS foam.
It comes after the Department of Defence agreed to pay more than $132 million to settle a class action over land contamination from the toxic firefighting foam at seven military sites across the country.
It is alleged residents were exposed to poisonous chemicals at the sites and the department negligently allowed the chemicals to escape into the environment.
The class action was led by Shine Lawyers who represented more than 30,000 claimants.
One of those is Julie Garner, who lives less than 5 kilometres from the Bandiana Military Area in Wodonga, on the New South Wales-Victoria border.
As an avid gardener who grows her own fruit and vegetables, Ms Garner consumed produce grown in soil suspected to be contaminated for several years.
"I've got apples, oranges, mandarins, grapefruits, you name it," she said.
"A whole variety of fruit trees and of course I grow everyday vegetables."
Over time she noticed issues in her garden which she believed were a result of PFAS contamination.
"Vegetables just didn't taste right … I thought it was just my imagination," she said.
"It was rather horrifying to realise that you have these issues."
Ms Garner, who has lived at the property for more than 20 years, said she had concerns for the potential health impacts exposure to the chemicals could cause.
"My health has been very up and down for a number of years now," she said.
"In what I've read and what I understand, it's possible PFAS has affected my health in a way and many others' [health]."
She said she had experienced gut issues and fatigue.
Class action
Shine Lawyers joint head of class action, Craig Allsopp, said the lawsuit was related to compensation for loss of property value due to contamination.
"In the worst case, if you've got livestock on a property, you can't do that anymore," he said.
"Your property value has gone down so you can't sell it and you're just trapped on this contaminated land."
He said notification land in the areas had been potentially contaminated by PFAS would have caused people "a lot of fear and distress" and would have immediate impacts on property prices.
While the long term health impacts weren't fully known, Mr Allsopp said there could be further class actions down the track in relation to those issues.
"We know these PFAS chemicals are toxic," he said.
"The science is continuing to develop about the health risks.
He said Wodonga or any of the other sites could potentially have health-related claims, depending on effects of the chemical.
"This class action and participating in this class action doesn't stop anybody or a further class action down the track in relation to health issues," he said.
Health risk
Ms Garner said she had been transitioning to raised garden beds in a bid to minimise any potential risk through soil contamination.
She said she also planned to get a water tank to further reduce risk.
But she was concerned the damage was already done.
"Many of us these days are trying to look after our health and to hear something like this, it doesn't matter what you do you could end up potentially being seriously ill in the long run," Ms Garner said.
Mr Allsopp said potentially-eligible group members would be contacted and people would be given an opportunity to register for the class action even if they hadn't previously.
The court will then carefully scrutinise any proposed settlement ensuring it is fair and reasonable for all group members across all sites.
"You don't just divide [$132.7 million] by 30,000," Mr Allsopp said.
"We've got to look at what the actual registrations are and then also the different circumstances of each site, the number of properties and the level of contamination."
He said the outcome of the lawsuit was helpful but there was still a long way to go when it came to issues and the use of the chemical.
"The PFAS contamination has to be addressed, remediated if possible, and most importantly not allowed to get any worse," Mr Allsopp said.
