David Gillespie (Lyne, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I think the ACT Government Loan Bill 2014 comes to the House with bipartisan support. I rise to highlight that I am flabbergasted that, in 1968, when there was such a long history of the risks of asbestosis, Mr Fluffy was able to fill houses with free-flowing asbestos. It boggles the mind. Early occupational health reports in the twenties and thirties in America and in Western Australia identified it as potentially toxic to the lungs of workers, causing asbestosis—which is like silicosis, a fibrotic lung disease—or, worse, mesothelioma, the deadly cancer lining the lungs.

To have up to 1,000 houses in Canberra, near the town I grew up in, with free-flowing asbestos pumped into the roofing for insulation just beggars belief. I continue to be shocked that it went on for so long. It seems ironic that Mr Fluffy himself passed from this world due to the effects of asbestosis and mesothelioma.

This measure is non-controversial. A loan of up to $1 billion, to be appropriated as a result of this bill, will be utilised by the ACT government to purchase the affected properties, many of which are very large blocks of land in Canberra. The plan, I understand, once the affected buildings and land are remediated, is to sell them off. I am not sure, but, if the ACT government have any commercial nous, they will subdivide these very large blocks into smaller blocks, recoup the $750 million to $1 billion in funds from the Commonwealth and be able to repay their loan in due course.

The bill is pretty straightforward, but it sends a sobering message to anyone involved in occupational health and safety. When you see these early reports of things that might be dangerous, you must look at them extensively before you go headlong into the consumption of something that might end up being toxic. I commend this bill to the House.

See this speech in context