Australia's failure to effectively deal with coal mining and coal-fired power station pollution and PFAS contamination have been highlighted in a new United Nations report.
UN Special Rapporteur Marcos Orellana recently visited key sites of concern, including Lake Macquarie, as part of an investigation into toxic substances and human rights.
Dr Orellana said communities had paid a high price for the economic benefits brought about by mining and coal-fired power generation.
"Coal has fuelled Australia's energy sector for decades. In doing so, coal mining and coal-fired power plants have enabled important economic prosperity," Dr Orellana's preliminary report said.
"But the environmental health costs have often been externalized on communities, who have paid the price with premature deaths, terminal illnesses, asthma and other serious health problems."
Dr Orellana met with the Future Sooner group to discuss the health impacts of power station pollution on Lake Macquarie and Central Coast communities.
Future Sooner spokesperson Gary Blaschke said the group was pleased Dr Orellana had agreed to discuss the group's concerns.
"We have medical evidence that proves that the Central Coast has an abnormal number of lung diseases and cancers," he said.
This was backed up by the Australian Bureau of Statistics At Risk Populations, Torrens University Cancer Cluster Report.
"This includes children as young as three years old with brain tumours and teenagers with spinal tumours," he said.
The impact of coal ash pollution, a byproduct of coal-fired power generation, was also discussed at the meeting.
An estimated 200 million tonnes of the waste material is currently dumped in unlined sites across NSW, with more than half of the material stored in the Hunter and Central Coast.
"Ash dams from coal combustion also poses threats to groundwater and drinking water of local communities. Arsenic and selenium in groundwater have been reported. A 2021 parliamentary inquiry into the cost for remediation of sites containing coal ash repositories in NSW expressed concern at the "complete disregard by the government towards the health of its citizens," Dr Orellana said.
In relation to PFAS, Dr Orellana was critical of the government's failure to implement ongoing blood tests for communities affected by the pollutant. This included the Williamtown Red Zone, where government-funded blood testing has been discontinued.
Fullerton Cove resident Lindsay Clout said the previous blood testing program had been of benefit to many who were concerned about the impact of PFAS contamination on their health.
"I think it's important. It's among the things that I have asked the new (federal) government about," he said.
"I think the reason the government is hiding from it is because they don't want any bad results to come out.
"We have recently been told there are some residents in the Salt Ash area whose values are going up. People have a right to know."
Dr Orellana said Australia, like most industrialised countries, grappled with the challenges of managing contaminated sites, industrial chemicals, closing mines, among other sources of toxic releases.
It also struggled with differing environmental standards between states.
"The challenges are significant. And so are the opportunities: to learn from the past; to revisit and recalibrate, and to realign with international good practices," he said.
He said some stakeholders had spoken about the need to establish a national environmental regulator that can enforce harmonised national standards, however, this would require agreement by all states.
"Regardless of whether a federal environmental protection agency is created, the world needs Australia to lead on a range of toxics issues," Dr Orellana said.
"If Australia is unable to ensure that mining does not pose toxic threats, what can we expect from other jurisdictions lacking the institutional regulatory capacity that Australia has? The expected surge in demand of transition minerals for decarbonisation makes of this an existential question for many communities."
