2023-02-28
28 February 2023
The evidence is clear, manufactured stone is the 21st century asbestos and the Federal Parliament should act urgently to ban its importation and use. The Greens welcome the statement from the Albanese government that it wants to move towards a ban, but this cannot wait 12 months while more young workers are exposed to this deadly dust.
The Greens first called for manufactured stone to be banned in 2020 after the NSW Parliament inquiry into dust disease. Every day of delay is a deadly day and politics has a duty to act now.
Lines attributable to Greens Justice Spokesperson and Senator for NSW David Shoebridge:
“Workers’ lives are worth more than shiny benchtops and an urgent ban is the only ethical response to the danger we know this product poses to workers.
“In 2020 in the NSW Parliament I called for an immediate ban on manufactured stone because all the evidence showed it was a lethal product for those who worked with it.
“SafeWork Australia has been inexcusably slow in addressing this deadly product, and it is disturbing to hear that the Albanese government believes it will take a further 12 months for them to effect a ban.
“SafeWork has been on notice about the deaths of these workers for years and it has failed to challenge the manufactured stone industry, instead putting in place meaningless controls that are often ignored on the ground.
“A ban needs to be just the start, we know the young tradies who have been working with manufactured stone who get sick need quality medical support and will likely require compensation.
“Within Australia we face the impossible situation that the manufacturers of this product can’t even get insurance, meaning workers risk being stranded without compensation for the deadly disease they are experiencing.
“Politics should unite on this, join together in the coming weeks to ban the product in Federal Parliament and then step through what’s needed to deal with those workers already injured,
“No shiny benchtop is worth a worker’s life,” Senator Shoebridge said.