Page 1930 - Week 07 - Tuesday, 5 August 2014
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Members would be aware that asbestos-containing materials were routinely used in the construction of Canberra homes before 1990 and are commonly found in areas including eves, roofs, wet areas, fences and pipe lagging. However, there is a subset of Canberra homes that are additionally affected by a particularly dangerous form of asbestos—pure, raw asbestos pumped into roof spaces between 1968 and 1979 as insulation by a firm known as Mr Fluffy.
The enduring legacy of this activity, which took place while the commonwealth government was responsible for Canberra, and the ultimately unsuccessful attempt at remediation under the removal program in the late 1980s and early 1990s presents a continuing threat to affected families and a complex challenge for the ACT and commonwealth governments to solve. The ACT government has acted to tackle these legacy issues and is committed to providing an enduring solution. We need to fix this once and for all.
There is nowhere else in Australia that is experiencing the effects of loose-fill asbestos insulation in such a large number of homes as is the case in the ACT. We know of a handful of homes in neighbouring New South Wales, and there is also, we understand, a limited number of similar cases in the United Kingdom.
The pressing need to deal with the legacy of Mr Fluffy’s asbestos led the government to establish the asbestos response task force on 25 June this year. The task force reports to me in my capacity as Chief Minister and is led by Mr Andrew Kefford who was, until this appointment as coordinator-general, the Commissioner for Public Administration.
The task force was established to provide a coordinated and compassionate response to the needs of affected families and is focused on three key streams of work: responding to the needs of families, some of whom have only found out recently that they are living in a home affected by loose-fill asbestos insulation, by administering the government’s financial assistance package; building an information base to share with affected families and the broader Canberra community; and preparing advice on a sustainable and practical long-term solution to the continuing threat posed by the presence of loose-fill asbestos insulation in homes.
In creating the task force, expertise has been drawn together from across the ACT public service, including staff with experience in managing the impacts of asbestos in the community, staff who understand our planning system and can guide assessments and building and remediation works, and staff with hands-on experience supporting the community through times of crisis.
Since the task force was set up, a register of more than 2,000 current and former home owners, tenants, tradespeople, real estate and other professionals and the broader community has been established. This register is enabling the task force to develop a better understanding of the individual circumstances of the affected families and allowing it to provide tailored advice and assistance. Current home owners and tenants who have registered with the task force are being assisted with arranging asbestos assessments for affected homes, understanding the ramifications of asbestos assessments, organising remediation work, accessing the government’s assistance package and liaising with other government agencies and industry.
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