The Department of Defence are moving a childcare centre earmarked for the Williamtown RAAF Base out to Medowie instead.
It comes after international research indicated there is a potential risk that noise exposure may affect children's rate of learning compared to a quiet environment. In addition, the health risks to hearing is a major concern.
The research is what led to the closure of RAAF Base childcare centres back in 2015 at Amberley and Darwin.
The decision to not have one back at Williamtown is particularly pleasing to Paterson MP Meryl Swanson.
"It also happened to be outside of the red zone which I think is a wise and cautionary decision. You know, we don't know about PFAS, it is an emerging contaminant and I do think that they've done a good thing in making the decision to move the childcare centre,"
"They took the decision to move the childcare bases at Williamtown, Amberly and Darwin because of fast jets and the noise. That decision was taken a number of years ago before PFAS became an issue and I was briefed recently, last week, that a new childcare centre was being built at Medowie," said Meryl Swanson.
The childcare centre at Medowie is still little ways away - it isn't expected to be built until next year. Defence has committed to the centre which they say will be completed between January and August 2018.
Meryl Swanson says with a majority of RAAF families already living in Medowie, it just makes sense.
