More deserve F-111 compensation
Shortcomings have been identified in a compensation scheme for Defence personnel.
A parliamentary committee report has called for compensation and support for 2,000 extra Defence personnel and their families whose health was affected by chemicals used to repair the inside of F-111 bomber fuel tanks.
Under a 2005 compensation scheme about 700 workers in the formal deseal/ reseal repair program received a one-off ex-gratia payment of $10,000 to $40,000. However, this scheme excluded about 2,000 Defence personnel in three other squadrons who undertook the same duties but were not part of the formal deseal/reseal program.
Defence Sub-Committee Chair Arch Bevis (Member for Brisbane, Qld) said a key aim of this inquiry was to rectify the shortcomings of the 2005 scheme.
“It was born of fuzzy logic, shrouded in misleading spin and then administered in confusion. The recent inquiry recommends that those 2,000 forgotten F-111 Defence personnel receive the appropriate ex-gratia payments and other assistance,” he said.
The F-111 long range strike ability was a key factor in defence strategy for two decades. The ability to fly long distances relied on extra fuel tanks located in every spare space, but the multitude of tanks often leaked due to deteriorating sealant.
Between 1977 and 2000 approximately 2,300 aircraft maintenance workers were involved, mostly at RAAF Base Amberley in Queensland. These ‘pick and patch’ workers used harsh chemicals to dissolve sealant and other residue from inside the tanks before hosing them out with water.
“RAAF men were sent inside the smallest nooks and crannies imaginable in F-111 aircraft and in 1973 out on the tarmac there were no sheds, no covers,” explained committee member and former serviceman Stuart Robert (Member for Fadden, Qld). “In scorching heat in an Amberley summer these men would crawl in, many of them in shorts and T-shirts with no personal protective equipment, to carefully pick off the sealant and trace where the hole was and then to reseal it.”
The workers used a highly flammable and noxious sealant remover called SR51, now considered to be toxic by the Department of Defence.
“The reverted sealant, it was everywhere,” former warrant officer engineer Barry Gray told the committee.
“The leaks were that bad we used to joke that you had to put a raincoat on when you walked around the aircraft to do a pre-flight inspection. When we did the pick and patch, we would be in that tank up to eight or nine hours a day and that could be for a week until you found the leak.”
Today, these men and their families suffer a multitude of health problems. One study shows the workers had a 44 per cent higher rate of cancer than the rest of the population.
However, the inquiry concluded there was a lack of clear evidence to prove chemicals used in the deseal/reseal programs were the cause of widespread health problems in workers and their families.
Instead the report, Sealing a just outcome, has made recommendations for improved occupational health and safety standards for aviation workers and the removal of cut-off dates for compensation claims. Deceased estates and their beneficiaries should also be eligible for compensation.
An urgent increase in occupational medical specialists in the Australian Defence Force has also been recommended.
While civil legal action against the Defence Department is not included in the report, the committee will attempt to speed up the process by seeking regular updates on any lawsuits.
Ian Fraser, President of the F-111 Deseal/ Reseal Support Group told the ABC he is pleased more victims have been recognised in the report.
“I applaud many of the recommendations from this report. A great number of them are ones that we sought,” Mr Fraser said.
But he is disappointed alternative avenues to compensation were not recommended.
“One of the things that we had hoped for would have been a recommendation for a mediation process so that each of us gets a chance to present our cases to receive access to fair and equitable compensation.
“For many of the core group, the largest lump sum they will see is the $40,000 payment. I would expect an ex-gratia payment of no less than $500,000 would be fair. We face a range of mental and physical illnesses. We will all die before our time because our life has been shortened by our exposures.”
Links
Web: www.aph.gov.au/jfadt
Email: jscfadt@aph.gov.au
Phone: (02) 6277 2313
| 
