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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2004 Week 10 Hansard (Wednesday, 25 August 2004) . . Page.. 4213 ..

re-igniting this debate and making people more aware of the dangers that may exist in their own homes. Many people actually think the asbestos problem has gone away because asbestos was banned. How could it possibly still be around?

We have a responsibility, then, to ensure that people are aware of the problem and are aware that asbestos has not gone away; that we still have more work to do; that we have to make sure that the work we complete ensures that no-one else suffers unnecessarily from these terrible diseases; that we are able to get the information out there where it is needed most; get the information from the task force, as the government has proposed, and find out what we need to do next to make sure that the Canberra community is safe and nobody else needs to suffer from the terrible effects of asbestos.

MR BERRY (8.49): I felt as though I should make a contribution to this debate because I have some historical connection with dealing with asbestos in the ACT. This issue, of course, became a headline issue again with the appalling attempts by the Hardie company to extricate itself from its liability for the effects of asbestos on people who have been exposed to it. This scandalous position has been well publicised and is well understood in the community. Of course with those headline issues forming such an important part of our information sources, it is not surprising that the issue that has been raised—firstly by Mrs Cross in relation to the removal of asbestos, and now being dealt with by the government—has gathered a head of steam which might not have happened in other circumstances.

However, asbestos has been a part of life in this country for a long time—a terrible part of life. Lots of people have been affected by it. Many people, if not most of older generations, have been touched by asbestos in some way.

On a personal note: my father was an electrician and I was an apprentice electrician. You get to work on all things insulation if you are an electrician. One of the most important pieces of insulation around in those days was asbestos. It was used for heat insulation but it was also used, for example, to line electrical switchboards, as I recall, to make them fire safe. It was also an inert product that was useful for those sorts of operations. Asbestos ropes were used to wrap around fuel lines and exhaust pipes and asbestos was used in electric irons and electric toasters. Indeed, in households often the household iron sat on an asbestos mat or, indeed, the pot in the kitchen sat on an asbestos mat. These things were commonplace around the household. Many hundreds of thousands of people were impacted in some way. We will never know the impact of this, but we will keep seeing it as people become ill as a result of exposure to the substance.

I think the ACT took the lead on asbestos, as it has on many issues in times past. Indeed, there was a massive campaign for the removal of asbestos in the 1980s. The building that was the headline building, if you like, in the campaign to remove asbestos by the ACT Trades and Labour Council was the National Library. That has got some significance in local politics as well because our Senator Lundy worked as an asbestos removalist in the National Library. Before that there was a massive industrial campaign that resulted, I think, in a former member of this place being arrested. Mr Lamont was on a picket line and I think Mr Lamont was arrested.

We are all touched in some way, either by activism around the issue or by our lifestyles or our operations in this place. I was in the fire service for many years. Asbestos was

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