A new Senate inquiry will investigate whether resource companies are retaining adequate funds for mine rehabilitation and whether the process is being adequately monitored.
The Department of Health is offering free blood tests to people who have worked or lived near two Defence bases, as lawyers prepare class actions over a firefighting chemical used at the sites.
The Department of Environment and Energy has established a new section to develop strategies on contaminants used in firefighting foams and to consider controlling their use via an international treaty.
The owner of a coal carrier that ran aground on the Great Barrier Reef has agreed to pay $39.3 million to remediate the site, more than three years after the Federal Government started legal proceedings against it.
A Senate inquiry has called for a review of the EPBC Act to ensure the Department of Environment can lead efforts to deal with major site contamination, in a report that identifies serious deficiencies in Defence's handling of hazardous chemicals.
No one is sure whether state agencies can order Defence to take action over off-site contamination and, as class action lawyers circle, federal lawyers are trying to come up with an answer, a Senate inquiry has heard.
Airport operators and councils are among those that might seek compensation from the Federal Government for contamination caused by firefighting foams.