No one ever disputed that the federal government contaminated our land, our water, our homes, our children. That contamination came off the Williamtown air force base via firefighting foam. In that foam was a toxic chemical called PFAS. In America they call it the forever chemical because it takes so long to break down in the environment.

Our argument was never with the men and women who serve our country on that base. It was with the cold bureaucratic face of indifference in the Defence Department, federal government and regulatory agencies.

At first, they didn't tell us what they had done. Then they sought to deny responsibility. Finally, they told us what they had done was "complex". Throughout all of this the people of Williamtown stood up and fought. Some of them are no longer with us - they have passed away with cancer - a disease the Australian Federal Court has now linked to PFAS exposure.

Others' scars are deep and emotional. How can you look at your family the same every day when you're trapped on contaminated land and can't get them out? This settlement gives them nothing. It simply returns only part of what was taken away from us by the federal government.

With a few notable exceptions, in five years, we can count on one hand the number of senior political leaders who came onto our contaminated properties and looked us in the eye. If anyone wants to understand growing Australian community disillusionment in the institutions we believe should protect us, they could do worse than to take a trip to Williamtown, Oakey or Katherine.

For all that indifference, we have seen the very best in our community. In cold country halls, in endless inquiries, hundreds of conference calls, in submissions, in court, in meetings. They were relentless. To name one would be to exclude hundreds. They are all different people but connected by conviction and courage.

And when no one would listen to them, the media did. In particular, the Newcastle Herald brought to national attention what the Defence Department was desperate to paint as a small, isolated regional issue. This paper's award-winning reporting and that of other local media on the PFAS contamination has reverberated nationally and internationally.

People from Melbourne to Michigan call Williamtown residents when they learn their properties, homes or businesses are PFAS contaminated. If ever there was a case study of the importance of a strong regional media to call power to account, then Williamtown is it.

If you wonder why we took legal action against our own government it's because we had no choice. Our attempts to get them to listen, to act were brushed off. The litigation funders in IMF Bentham never approached us. We went to them.

I'm not sure what they and global law firm Dentons thought about a gaggle of residents walking into their Sydney offices and asking them to take on a case that had never been tried before. But they listened. They acted. And they fought.

Throughout that process many Williamtown residents became somewhat expert in the finer points of law and science around PFAS. In one memorable exchange during the second Williamtown Senate Committee Inquiry a resident apologised to chairman Andrew Laming MP saying: "Sorry I should point out I'm not an PFAS expert."

"Actually," said Laming. "You are one the most knowledgeable people on this topic that this inquiry has heard so far."

Sadly, the battle is not over. Our properties and your community remain contaminated. The extent of Australia's PFAS contamination is also only now being truly understood. There are other communities around Australia who are battling their own PFAS exposure. So perhaps the greatest victory is they now know that indifference is not a dam that can forever hold back a committed community fighting for what is right.