John Murphy (Lowe, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

This afternoon I would like to update the House on my campaign to improve awareness of the dangers of asbestos and to ban the global mining and sale of asbestos products. In March this year, I presented more than 1,000 signatures to the Standing Committee on Petitions that called on this House to ensure that Australia takes a leading role in establishing a treaty to prevent the mining and export of asbestos worldwide and to promote the teaching of business ethics in our schools and universities. I am pleased to announce that the petition was recently considered by the committee and has been certified as being in accordance with standing orders. It is with great pleasure that I present the petition in the House today.

The petition read as follows—

To the Honourable The Speaker and Members of the House of Representatives

This petition of certain citizens of Australia draws to the attention of the House:

• The Bernie Banton Foundation estimates than in 10 years time some 40,000 Australians will have contracted asbestos-related cancer.
• The poisoning of Australians by asbestos is a modern day industrial catastrophe which Karen Banton, the wife of the late anti-asbestos campaigner, Bernie Banton, has warned could happen again.
• There was a great violation of trust of Australians by executives of James Hardie who lied to workers about the dangers of asbestos.
• Whilst asbestos has been banned from use in Australia, many countries, such as Canada, continue to mine and export asbestos.

We therefore ask the House to ensure that Australia takes a leading role in establishing a treaty to prevent the mining and export of asbestos worldwide and to promote the teaching of business ethics in our schools and universities.

from 1,046 citizens

Petition received.

The poisoning of thousands of Australians by asbestos is clearly an industrial catastrophe. The Bernie Banton Centre is attached to the Concord Repatriation General Hospital in my electorate of Lowe and is named in honour of the late Bernie Banton, a heroic anti-asbestos campaigner and victim of mesothelioma. The centre was granted $5 million by the Rudd government and is currently researching the deadly disease in order to find a cure for mesothelioma and asbestos related diseases and treatments to enhance and prolong the lives of sufferers. I recently attended the Bernie Banton Centre to visit the new facilities and meet with the scientists undertaking this very important task. During the visit, the Deputy Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, and the New South Wales Premier, Kristina Keneally, launched the new mesothelioma registry.

Mesothelioma is a rare chest or abdomen disease which is linked primarily to exposure to asbestos fibres. The new registry aims to collect more accurate information and help reduce the number of potentially avoidable deaths. I welcome the new registry, as Australia suffers one of the highest rates of incidence of mesothelioma in the world, with estimates of 13,000 cases by 2020 and a further 40,000 cases of asbestos related cancer. The dreadful statistics indicate that the rates of incidence of this awful disease are not expected to peak until 2017, while survival rates are poor, with only five per cent of patients alive five years after diagnosis. I know that the evidence collected through the registry will significantly contribute to the international policy debate on globally banning all forms of asbestos.

While Australia and many other developed nations have banned the use of asbestos, many developing countries, including India and other countries in South Asia, are still employing the deadly products. Karen Banton, the wife of the late Bernie Banton, has warned that the industrial catastrophe could happen again. Unfortunately, I believe Mrs Banton is right. It is because countries like Canada are unscrupulously selling this deadly substance to developing nations, knowing full well the risks it poses. How can we allow this situation to continue as we fund research, care for our sick and condemn James Hardie for the fatal effects of asbestos? How can we allow our innocent brothers and sisters in India and South Asia to be exposed to this lethal substance? As global citizens we must not allow other countries to mine or export asbestos or asbestos products. As I have raised previously in this place, we must stand up for what is right, not what is politically expedient.

An attempt to list chrysotile asbestos under the Rotterdam treaty in 2006 failed. Listing chrysotile asbestos under the treaty would require importing countries to be warned of risks associated with hazardous substances. The failure to list this deadly substance leaves many citizens of developing countries importing the product at grave risk. If previous attempts to have asbestos listed have failed, I would like to see further international efforts to have the mining and export of asbestos banned worldwide. This is a call that has been supported by the more than 1,000 signatories to the petition I present today.

While I am proud to be a member of a government that is so committed to supporting victims of asbestos, I believe we can build on this good work through a national awareness campaign and by removing this substance from public places and the international market. The petition I present today reflects the strong emotions among members of my community, some of whom have been directly affected by asbestos, as I have previously noted in this House. For the victims—and the families who have witnessed most cruelly the dangers of asbestos—their lives should not be in vain. We should not forget that, as long as asbestos is used in the world, more mothers and fathers, sons and daughters, friends and colleagues are at risk of acquiring asbestos related diseases. I repeat the call for Australia to take a leading role in establishing a treaty to outlaw the mining and export of asbestos worldwide, and I have a motion on the Notice Paper to that effect. Bernie Banton would expect nothing less.

Question agreed to.

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