The contamination of PFAS in the Jervis Bay area has devastated local Indigenous culture according to some members of the Wreck Bay community.
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Another community walk-in session was held by the Department of Defence at the Jervis Bay Primary school hall on Thursday, December 3 as the final ecological risk assessments, final site assessment and management plan were released.
But the meeting was tense, with members of the local Aboriginal community unhappy with the response from the department.
Local Indigenous community leader James Williams said his culture had been "crucified".
"It has devastated our community culturally," he said.
"The way our community has been effected it so unique - we once had an abundance of seafood and bush medicine that we used to source quite freely but now everyone is too afraid to go anywhere near it.
"My kids will never learn what I learnt growing up as a child, they won't have the resources to learn how I understood it as a kid. I would not dare to let them anywhere near the [places] we've been told to stay away from."
James said the confusing messaging had created a lot of doubt in the community.
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Jack Hampton has been a resident of Jervis Bay for 60 years and worked with PFAS chemicals as a firefighter for 31 years.
He said the PFAS contamination had done a lot of damage to his culture.
"We used to go and fish everyday, collect pipies, oysters, muscles, prawns and crabs," he said.
"I go up to Berkley and buy my prawns up there from Lake Illawarra and my fish I get up there."
Jack said he doesn't believe the PFAS will be even fully managed.
"They said they're going to try and manage it - they'll never manage it.
"That's a lot of area to cover - I think I'll be dead by the time he cleans it up."
Department of Defence deputy secretary of estate and infrastructure Steven Grzeskowiak said the department was "very aware" of the cultural practices which have had to be suspended.
"We do understand that it is difficult for those people so we're here trying to make sure it's clear that what we're doing is fully open and transparent," Mr Grzeskowiak said.
"We're making all the information available and we're committed to being here for the long-haul.
"Defence is part of the community here and we want to clear this up as quick as we can but it will take a few years for that to happen."
Mr Grzeskowiak said they were ready to start with the remediation process and removing PFAS from the environment.
"We have a good understanding now of where PFAS resides within the environment, we have a good understanding of where the hot spots are - so armed with that information and information how that PFAS chemicals have been moving through that environment we're now going to start the process of remediation.
"We'll be targeting those source areas so we can reduce the amount of PFAS which may flow into area such as Mary's Creek, over time we should see the amount of PFAS in Mary's Creek and some of the other areas reducing."
There is more information about PFAS in Jervis Bay at https://www.defence.gov.au/environment/pfas/JervisBay/.