Michelle Rowland (Greenway, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Communications) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

One of the more appalling cuts in the long list of appalling cuts by this government is the abolition of Australia's Asbestos Safety and Eradication Agency. Asbestos eradication, identification and treatment is such a topical issue in Western Sydney. I and members on this side represent the asbestos belts throughout Western Sydney and the Illawarra. You only have to look at a list of the New South Wales suburbs with most asbestos risk to see that three of them are located in the electorate of Greenway—Seven Hills, Lalor Park and Blacktown. You do not need to go back too far in the news to see examples of where asbestos eradication is the number one issue for these suburbs. For example, on 14 April, the headline on the ABC News was 'Asbestos scare after building waste falls from truck at Old Guildford in Sydney's West:

Fire crews have spent the night clearing up two tonnes of building material containing asbestos.

Only on 15 May, there was the headline 'Asbestos scare shuts down Blacktown hospital upgrade works indefinitely.' We had tonnes of fill delivered to Blacktown hospital laden with asbestos. It is exactly these issues which this agency is tasked with ensuring do not happen. Too many people, particularly those in Western Sydney and their families, are at risk from asbestos-related diseases. The axing of this agency will not do anything to improve that statistic.