Anne McEwen (SA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Almost coincident with the first payment of $184 million by James Hardie to the new $4 billion asbestos injuries compensation fund came the announcement by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission that it had launched civil proceedings against not only the company of James Hardie but also nine of the company’s 2001 directors and executives. This is a timely reminder that the sorry saga of James Hardie is far from over.

The civil action may be a prelude to further criminal charges which are currently being considered. It will be a bitter blow to those that have endured this corporate catastrophe and persisted in their seven-year campaign for fair and accessible compensation should James Hardie face only civil or minor charges for the misery and early deaths of so many Australians. It is for corporate behaviour such as this that trade unions continue to call for the introduction of industrial manslaughter laws.

Representatives of asbestos victims organisations have commented on the directors’ resignations which immediately followed ASIC’s announcement, but one could only wish that James Hardie dealt with their long-suffering former employees and other victims with the same generosity of spirit and the same speed with which they have approved compensation packages for those who have fallen on their own swords ahead of the commission inquiry.

Insensitivity and double standards are what we have come to expect of this company, which in 2001 stealthily restructured and moved to the Netherlands, leaving behind its asbestos victims and liabilities. This action has aptly been described as perpetrating Australia’s greatest corporate hit-and-run and is deserving of the same contempt as those who commit such shameful behaviour in a motor vehicle accident.

It is estimated that more than 3,000 products still in use today contain asbestos. Many companies in the past did not disclose or even monitor if or how much asbestos was in their products. As a result many Australian workers, their families and consumers generally have been unaware of exposure to what has been called the ‘silent killer’. Those victims who were first exposed over 40 years ago in the mining and manufacturing industries are now being joined by those who used the product downstream in building and construction. Emerging but unknown numbers now present themselves from contact sources such as homes, schools and commercial workplaces. In turn will be those exposed through contaminated landfill and earlier uncontrolled dumping. Up to 60,000 Australians may expect to be diagnosed with asbestos related diseases by 2020, with 15,000 of them to develop deadly mesothelioma. Sadly, the highest percentage of those is likely to be in the state that I represent, South Australia, which now has the highest per capita rate of asbestos related diseases in the world.

South Australia was home to two major James Hardie plants which manufactured compressed or bonded products using both chrysotile and crocidolite, the most virulent forms of asbestos. Much of the product used in the over 1½ million Australian fibro homes, along with walling, roofing, fencing and pipe products, was manufactured at the plants at Birkenhead and Elizabeth, which together employed some 450 workers. Subsidiary companies such as Wunderlich, Bells, Bradford and CSR collectively employed many further hundreds of workers, supplying asbestos products into a range of industries, notably shipbuilding and the high-rise building industry.

Asbestos material was pressure-sprayed onto steelwork at the early stages of construction, with overspray carried not only throughout the site but, by the elements, beyond the confines of the building. Workers spoke of the ‘snowstorms’ which saw the deadly material descending into surrounding streets. Many of those workers were long-term employees who at the time of the outlawing of the product had been in the industry for some 20 years.

The Whyalla BHP shipyard at its peak employed 1,500 workers, producing some 45 vessels between 1941 and 1978. It was among the workers of this relatively small community that the high incidence of asbestos related diseases alerted unions to the emerging magnitude of the problem. The metalworkers union was joined in early detection and screening campaigns by the then Federated Miscellaneous Workers Union, the building and construction unions and the Australian Workers Union, which between them represented the bulk of workers in both the manufacture and commercial use of the product.

Early campaigns drew much employer opposition to the union action, which was waged at varying levels ranging from the highly visible death’s-head posters, which would appear on buildings overnight to warn both construction and office workers of the incidence of asbestos, to factory education campaigns sensitive to the views of many workers concerned for their jobs. The South Australian Trades and Labour Council unified activities during the early 1980s and appointed a liaison officer to coordinate the campaigns of trade unions and others, such as the Doctors Reform Society, which was active in highlighting the alarming increase in asbestos related diseases and death. The council also established one of the first asbestos registers in Australia.

Distressingly, the 1990s saw an increase in disease rates and the need to establish support networks for the victims of asbestos and their families, friends and dependants. From informal groupings many have become prominent support organisations which tirelessly provide advocacy and counselling services while pursuing legislative reform for compensation and for material and workplace regulation. Two such organisations are the Asbestos Diseases Society of South Australia and the Asbestos Victims Association of South Australia, both of which have had success in important legislative reforms and have been acknowledged for their efforts for workers and the community generally. SA Unions now hosts the Asbestos Coalition, comprising people who are committed to continued campaigning and advocacy in the area of asbestos and asbestos related diseases in my state.

Nationally, Mr Bernie Banton has been the public face of asbestos victims for some years, particularly through the James Hardie victims fund campaign. I take this opportunity to acknowledge his remarkable efforts and achievements. I would also like to acknowledge two South Australians who have continued to play high-profile roles in the two previously mentioned South Australian organisations.

Jack Watkins is the President of the Asbestos Diseases Society of South Australia. Jack worked in the construction industry before becoming a union organiser and advocate for occupational health and safety and workers’ rights, in pursuit of which he achieved an almost legendary reputation for direct action. In 1982 Jack was appointed to, and remains a member of, the State Government Asbestos Advisory Committee and was appointed Asbestos Liaison Officer for the Trades and Labour Council. With unions, local government and residents, Jack fought both state and federal governments for the remediation of the Islington Railway Workshops site and its conversion into a public park. Due to these efforts, this site was finally cleared of asbestos and toxic wastes, landscaped and turned into the Jack Watkins Memorial Park. It stands as a tribute to workers who have died from an asbestos related disease. In 2001 Jack Watkins was awarded the Centenary Medal for services to workplace health, particularly in the area of asbestos investigation and education.

Terry Miller was a founding committee member of the Asbestos Victims Association of South Australia and is now its president. Terry worked at the James Hardie pipe factory at Elizabeth, on the outskirts of Adelaide, for some 20 years manufacturing fibrolite pipes with a mixture of asbestos and cement. Tragically, nine years ago Terry lost his wife to a lung related illness, often the fate of many women who contract diseases from the dust on their husband’s clothes. Five years ago Terry himself was diagnosed with asbestosis, scarring of the lung tissue, as a result of his contact with asbestos fibres and he now faces a shortened life. Terry and his association were instrumental in promoting major reform through the Dust Diseases Bill 2005, which was passed by the South Australian parliament, and the establishment of a memorial in Salisbury to those who have died of asbestos related illnesses. In January this year Terry Miller was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia, which recognised his work and service to the community through his association.

The compassion and efforts of Jack and Terry stand in stark contrast to the behaviour of those within the James Hardie company and others who for so long exhibited the worst possible corporate and human behaviour. For decades these people first hid and then, with wanton disregard for the truth about their lethal product, deliberately avoided any social and ethical considerations and set about maximising their profits over the health and welfare of asbestos diseases victims. The federal government, through ASIC, must pursue James Hardie and ensure that appropriate punishment for the company’s scandalous behaviour is delivered to those responsible for it.