Overview
- The Commonwealth lodged a Federal Court claim on Thursday, May 28, 2026, seeking more than A$2 billion to recover past and expected costs tied to PFAS contamination at 28 Defence sites.
- The government alleges 3M withheld internal testing and misrepresented the environmental risks of its aqueous film‑forming foams, and says the case targets environmental, economic and cultural harms rather than personal injury claims.
- Defence has already spent about A$1.3 billion on the response, removed roughly 200,000 tonnes of contaminated soil, treated about 13 billion litres of water and paid community settlements.
- 3M has said it will defend the suit, stating it never manufactured PFAS in Australia and stopped selling the contested foams locally about two decades ago, and legal experts expect the case to be protracted.
- The action follows a 2025 ban on key PFAS chemicals and international PFAS litigation, and a favorable outcome for the Commonwealth could affect how future cleanups are funded and how corporations are held liable.