The Coalition Against PFAS (CAP) consists of residents involved in class actions at Williamtown, Katherine and Oakey, where land and drinking water has been tainted with PFAS used in fire retardants at Australian military bases and fire stations.

There are investigations into PFAS levels in the environment for the Bandiana Military Area, Fire and Rescue NSW’s facility at Deniliquin Airport and the Wangaratta CFA training facility.

CAP president Lindsay Clout, from one of about 750 households caught in a plume of toxic contamination enveloping the Williamtown RAAF base, hoped to create a unified national voice that could force the government to clean up contaminated sites and compensate people for depressed property values and business losses.

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“While the United States has declared cleaning up PFAS contamination a 'national priority' and European countries move towards stating there is no safe level of exposure, our government has sat on its hands,” he said.

Australia is one of the only countries in the world not to have banned PFOS, arguably the most toxic chemical in the PFAS family, and the Department of Defence is aggressively defending several class action lawsuits for pollution stemming from its bases.

The coalition’s launch comes after a Fairfax Media investigation exposed a wave of cancers at a United States high school where the drinking water was contaminated with PFAS, though the Department of Health maintains there is no conclusive evidence they cause "important" health effects.

Litigation funder IMF Bentham, which has contributed funds towards the new coalition's website, is bankrolling the class actions at Williamtown, Oakey and Katherine.

Multinational firm Dentons is running the Williamtown lawsuit, while personal injury specialists Shine Lawyers are prosecuting the action in Oakey, and are canvassing potential actions in Wodonga and Darwin.