First firefighting foam compensation recipient 'gratefully relieved'

Eric Donaldson reached settlement with government over toxic contamination on his Queensland property

A retired air force doctor from rural Queensland is the first Australian to receive a compensation payment from the federal government as a result of legacy contamination from toxic firefighting foams used by the defence department.

Eric Donaldson, 83, from the town of Oakey, about 150km west of Brisbane, reached a settlement with the government after groundwater at his property was affected by per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances, a group of chemicals found to share a probable link to cancer.