NSW residents affected by defence base pollutants have embraced the federal government's commitment to manage contamination but say they doubt the issue would have attracted funding if an election wasn't imminent.
The government on Friday committed $55 million from the current defence budget to cleaning and managing toxic firefighting foams, which have leached into the ground and water around defence sites around the country, including at the RAAF Williamtown base near Newcastle and the Oakey Army Aviation base in Queensland.
Port Stephens mayor Bruce MacKenzie, whose council takes in areas contaminated by the Williamtown leak, says he's glad "something is finally happening".
"But I have no doubt if we weren't having an election on July 2 there'd probably still be no action," he told AAP on Tuesday.
"They've ignored the people for a long time."
Affected residents have launched a class action against the department, who knew of the Williamtown leak years before residents were formally notified in 2015.
Locals have been cautioned against drinking bore water and eating locally-grown produce.
The government says it will fund blood tests as well as health and counselling services as part of the funding.
Rob Roseworne, whose property in the red zone has been valued at "absolute zero" says he'll definitely be getting checked for elevated levels of perfluorinated compounds.
"We've been calling for that since September," he told AAP.
"We're now six months down the track and only being listened to because there's an election coming."
The government says $3.5 million will be used to connect Williamtown area properties to town water.
It will also fund a "epidemiological study that will look at potential patterns, causes and health effects in communities exposed to elevated levels" of the chemicals.
Greens Senator Lee Rhiannon, who initiated a senate inquiry into the Williamtown contamination, says the government's funding was a "good start" and acknowledged the issue was complex.
But she doubted whether $55 million would be enough to address all the problematic defence sites and said affected residents were yet to be offered compensation.
"You're starting to feel this is very, very big and the government needs to face up to there being a problem," she said.
"People's lives are being thrown into turmoil."
Defence firemen practised extensively with firefighting foam, which was used throughout the world from the 1970s though to the mid-2000s.
Labor last week committed $20 million to a national task force and 10,000 blood tests for those in affected areas, which also include Fiskville in Victoria and Darwin and Tindal RAAF bases in the Northern Territory.
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