2015-11-24
Ms PENNICUIK (Southern Metropolitan) — This week, 23–27 November, is Asbestos Awareness Week. I take the opportunity to express my condolences to the millions of people and their families around the world whose lives have been destroyed by asbestos. Australia has the highest per capita rates of asbestos-related diseases in the world. It has held this dubious distinction for decades, and deaths from asbestos-related diseases — mesothelioma, asbestosis and lung cancer — are expected to peak around 2020 with up to 40 000 deaths.
In any terms this is a tragic catastrophe, the result of the extensive mining and use of asbestos in vehicle and other manufacturing and the construction of residential, commercial and public buildings, including power utilities, schools and many other facilities and settings in Australia, and of the past and ongoing incompetence and negligence of governments and employers both private and public.
Despite companies and governments being well aware of the deadly hazards of asbestos, it was mined in Australia up until late 1984. According to the national Asbestos Safety and Eradication Agency approximately one-third of all homes built in Australia contain asbestos products, and the widespread use of asbestos has left a deadly legacy of asbestos in situ.
There are many areas in the home where asbestos-containing materials can be found, including, but not limited to, roof and wall sheeting, guttering, gables, eaves, water pipes and flues, vinyl flooring, carpet and tile underlays, imitation brick cladding, fencing, carports and sheds, telecommunication pits, expansion joints, packing under beams and concrete formwork.
The risk of exposure to asbestos from the built environment is broad, and the potential impact to the entire Australian community is great. Asbestos is still widely used in some countries. Despite being a prohibited import in Australia since 2003, goods containing asbestos are still being located at the Australian border.
As I said in this place two years ago, I have raised this issue of the rising incidence of exposure to asbestos in situ in public buildings, including in schools and in private homes, several times in this place because not enough is being done to prevent exposure in the community. At that time two years ago Victoria was the only state to have not signed up to the national strategy. Nothing much has changed, and I have been informed that, while Consumer Affairs Victoria had a stall at the recent Herald Sun Home Show, the information it had available on home OHS-type topics did not include asbestos. What a wasted opportunity.
I understand that the government finally has signed on to the National Strategic Plan for Asbestos Management and Awareness several months ago. While concerns have been raised about the shortcomings and some watering down of the strategy, it does provide a framework for coordinated action to reduce the hazard of asbestos in the community. My request of the minister is that she outline what steps the Victorian government is taking to implement the national strategic plan and how government departments and local authorities will work together towards an asbestos-free Victoria.