Page 2301 - Week 08 - Tuesday, 12 August 2014
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Questions without notice
Asbestos—loose-fill insulation
MR HANSON: My question is to the Chief Minister. In June 2014 the government established the asbestos task force to manage the ongoing impact of the risks of Fluffy houses. Have all owners of houses known by the government to be Mr Fluffy houses now been notified that their house is a Mr Fluffy house?
MS GALLAGHER: I thank the Leader of the Opposition for the question. As the Leader of the Opposition is aware, we sent out another letter by registered mail, following his suggestion, to the home owners. I understand there are a small number who we have not been able to deliver those registered letters to—I think it is around 100, from memory; it might be a bit less than that—who we have not been able to make contact with. Steps are being taken. I have not seen the advice come back about what further steps are being taken to make contact with those people, but I do understand that there are a small number—I just do not have the exact number in front of me—of people we have not been able to get in contact with.
MADAM SPEAKER: A supplementary question, Mr Hanson.
MR HANSON: Minister, could you advise what, if any, action is being taken to contact the previous owners or residents of Mr Fluffy homes?
MS GALLAGHER: I will come back to the Assembly if this is wrong. My understanding is that we have not got to that piece of work yet. It has been noted that going back may be something that the task force recommends—and I will take their advice on that—but the priority at the moment is to deal with the people who are in houses, particularly in houses where assessments are coming back showing levels of contamination which require immediate assistance.
MADAM SPEAKER: A supplementary question, Mr Smyth.
MR SMYTH: Minister, what action is in place to ensure that tradespeople can be certain that a house is or is not a Mr Fluffy house, and what is being done to identify tradespeople who have been in contact with Mr Fluffy houses?
MS GALLAGHER: I thank Mr Smyth for the question. This, again, has been one of the issues that is before the task force. Of the registrations to the task force, one of the larger groups, apart from home owners, that have been registering is for people in trades. We are keeping in close contact with the building stakeholders like the CFMEU, the MBA and the HIA. All of those three stakeholders are represented on the community and expert reference group.
There is a final brief, which I think is on its way to me, around recommending the tagging of houses in the short term, which would be to perhaps put a tag in the meter box so that people could very easily go and identify whether it was a Mr Fluffy house or not. In the meantime there is, from approaches to the task force if people are concerned, a process to go through to let them know if that house is a Mr Fluffy house.
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