Page 2071 - Week 07 - Wednesday, 6 August 2014
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(3) acknowledges the support extended to the Government to resolve this issue from the Canberra Liberals, the ACT Greens and all ACT Federal members of parliament;
(4) acknowledges the effective and determined efforts of Ms Brianna Heseltine and the members of the Fluffy Owners and Residents’ Action Group;
(5) calls on the Chief Minister to continue to work with the Commonwealth Government on an urgent basis to reach an agreed long term and collaborative solution to this issue, examining the expert advice of both governments’ agencies to determine what measures are required to render affected houses safe;
(6) provide this Assembly with regular updates; and
(7) provide adequate resources to the Task force to enable it to provide the support and technical advice required to achieve a lasting and permanent solution for affected home owners.”.
There can be no doubt as to the personal, emotional and financial impact that over 1,000 families in our community now find themselves dealing with, as Mr Hanson outlined in talking to his motion. There can also be no doubt as to the serious challenge that faces our government to determine the dimension of the health and safety problems posed by Mr Fluffy homes and the need to work with the commonwealth government to find a lasting solution to this extremely difficult issue.
From the outset, I think it is important to note the government has made it clear it is committed to finding a long-term solution for the owners and residents of Mr Fluffy homes, and this is our goal and our focus. Following the Chief Minister’s statement to the Assembly yesterday, members are aware that before they were banned asbestos-containing materials were routinely used in the construction of Canberra homes and are commonly found in areas including eaves, roofs, wet areas, fences and pipe lagging. However, there is a subset of some thousand Canberra homes that are additionally affected by a particularly dangerous form of asbestos that we have all come to know about. Unfortunately, this is pure, raw asbestos pumped into roof spaces between 1968 and 1979 by a firm known as Mr Fluffy. This issue presents a continued threat to the affected families, and is a complex social, economic and logistical challenge to solve.
It is now clearly evident that the commonwealth’s original attempt at removal and remediation of these houses in the 1980s and early 1990s that Mr Hanson outlined did not work. Two decades on, Canberra families still have raw, pure asbestos fibres inside their homes, as we heard from the Chief Minister yesterday—in their wardrobes, on the tops of their fridges, and in their heating ducts, living rooms, and bedrooms.
For a thousand families in the ACT, their houses have transformed overnight from homes where memories were created and life savings spent to contaminated buildings. Older Canberrans are asking is it safe for their grandchildren to visit them in their houses and how they explain that to them if they cannot. It is a very difficult situation, I think everyone will agree.
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