“The Department of Defence has plunged thousands of dollars into a ‘media awareness’ course, coaching staff on how to field questions over water contamination at its military bases.
Tender documents show just under $15,000 was paid for the workshop – run by a Victorian public relations firm called ‘Media Manoeuvres’ – at the end of last year.
News of the spend has rubbed salt in the wound for residents living in the vicinity of the Williamtown RAAF Base. They have not received a cent in compensation following revelations Defence has polluted their properties with toxic per- and poly-fluoroalkyl (PFAS) chemicals.
They are now pursuing a class action to claw back huge falls in property values.
Lindsay Clout, of the Fullerton Cove Residents Action Group, was gobsmacked by the tender documents. He said it was not the dollar value of the course, but what it represented, that angered him most…
‘I ask myself why the hell do these people need media training to talk about the contamination, if all they need to do is to tell the truth?’…
A Defence spokesperson said its personnel were given training to support them in roles that require community or media engagement and public speaking…
Media Manoeuvres is directed by the former public relations manager for Crown Casino, Sam Elam. According to the company’s website, its media awareness training teaches participants to ‘learn the danger zones and the repercussions of straying from their boundaries’.”
Read the full article by Carrie Fellner.