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Grow. Promote. Protect. Forum 2026. Hosted by the Australian Furnishing Industry Stewardship Council, Australian Furniture Association and RMIT University.
Grow. Promote. Protect. Forum 2026 brought together leaders from Australia’s furnishing, forestry, materials and manufacturing sectors to shape a more sustainable and resilient industry. Hosted by the Australian Furnishing Industry Stewardship Council, Australian Furniture Association and RMIT University, and running over February 24 and 25, the Forum built on the momentum of recent Commonwealth and State-funded research projects that have identified key recommendations for industry growth over the next three to five years.
The Forum explored priorities for implementing these recommendations through collaboration between industry leaders, researchers and policymakers. The two days featured panels, discussion and networking, with a focus on short-, medium- and long-term industry needs, with a strong emphasis on sustainability, circularity and responsible growth.
Grow. Promote. Protect. Forum 2026. Hosted by the Australian Furnishing Industry Stewardship Council, Australian Furniture Association and RMIT University.
Grow. Promote. Protect. Forum 2026. Keynote from Professor Oliver (Oli) Jones
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Hosted by the Australian Furnishing Industry Stewardship Council, Australian Furniture Association and RMIT University, and running over February 24 and 25, Grow. Promote. Protect. Forum 2026 built on the momentum of recent Commonwealth and State-funded research projects that have identified key recommendations for industry growth.
This episode is the keynote from day one.
Episode guide
0:02 – An introduction to the speaker, Professor Oliver Jones.
1:55 – Public concern over PFAS.
2:27 – A background in environmental, analytical and biological chemistry and the perspective this brings.
3:45 – PFAS hit the stage with the film Dark Waters.
4:28 – What PFAS are, the broadness of the category, some of their uses, and what led to their development.
5:24 – The role of the USS Forrestal incident in this story.
6:10 – Some of the things PFAS are blamed for.
7:45 – PFOA was a type of PFAS that gained attention in Dark Waters and the book Exposure, it’s not the only type.
8:19 – The OECD’s revised definition of PFAS gives maybe 7 million possible chemical combinations.
9:01 – The US EPA definition of PFAS.
9:30 – One reason PFAS are resistant to degradation.
10:01 – A reason PFAS chemicals can be useful in pharmacology, plus a reason the US EPA decided against an argument on regulations with the FDA, resulting in another definition of PFAS.
11:36 – The Canadian classification, which is similar to the OECD definition bar one difference.
12:28 – Different drugs are regulated differently because they have different risks attached.
13:05 – On “forever chemicals” and why it’s a catchy but misleading description.
14:02 – Exposure data across Australia and USA over time.
15:15 – Testing data being collected in Australia and some of the limitations of this.
16:20 – We’ve never made PFAS in Australia. It’s all been imported.
16:50 – There’s “surprisingly little data on the effects of environmentally-relevant concentrations”.
18:08 – The importance of context when you’re talking about toxicology. All chemicals are potentially toxic at high enough doses.
19:50 – How can you evaluate risks if you don’t have proper data?
21:08 – Issues of accumulation.
22:05 – Some of the varied uses of PFAS, and issues outside of environmental ones, such as at the Winter Olympics.
24:20 – Goretex and greenwashing.
25:30 – Teflon is a fluoropolymer, inert, and doesn’t have any proven biological effects.
26:10 – a big issue with the carpet industry in the US.
27:43 – The Senate inquiry into PFAS.
28:30 – Claims in Australia brought by landholders regarding defence sites.
30:05 – Food packaging and cosmetics.
31 – A personal recollection of noise-induced hearing loss claims in England. A lesson that – whatever the merits – people will often try and get money from a large company when there’s an incentive for themselves and lawyers.
31:55 – Legal cases, unfortunately-impacted claimants, sympathetic, non-scientific juries, and payouts.
33:05 – A prediction that there will be more PFAS-related litigation in future.
34:30 – Advice on how to approach the issue of PFAS and potential related liabilities at a company.
35:10 – The furniture industry and what it could do on the subject.
38:02 – If you’re able to track your products, their lifecycle, their inputs etc., then there’s value in that.
40:02 – Let’s just be careful to not repeat past mistakes.
41:15 – The example of BPA being replaced by BPS, which we know less about toxicologically.
42:30 – Questions from the floor.