Laurie Ferguson (Werriwa, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

It is predictable that I, along with the member for Reid and the member for Parramatta, would be involved in this debate on asbestos. As people would be aware, James Hardie’s main plant operation was at Camelia in Western Sydney. This touches us very directly. Coincidentally, this weekend I will be at a race meeting at Rosehill for the Asbestos Diseases Foundation. I know of many people who have died from this disease. Asbestosis was one of the contributing factors in my father’s death. Our area has been the location of much illegal dumping over the decades by James Hardie. I put on the record my commendation of the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union, journalist Matt Peacock, Bernie Banton and the others who have crusaded on this issue. I also express the hope that former management of James Hardie come clean at this late stage and reveal to the Australian public where this illegal dumping occurred in previous years.

I commend the member for Reid for raising this issue. It is just another example of an international problem. When contraceptives are banned in the First World because they are unsafe, they are still marketed in developing countries. We constantly see stories about the illegal export of chemical waste to West Africa—fraudulent paperwork through the shipping corporations and mangy European companies dumping stuff that they are not allowed to dump in Europe. This is just another example of the problem. The hypocrisy of Canada is rampant. We have a situation where that country is prioritising the removal of asbestosis in its own schools. We have a situation where its use is banned in that nation. Yet, the provincial government of Quebec, I am led to believe, can provide a $58 million line of credit to ensure that mines go ahead and that they export the product to other countries which have less control over it, which have less knowledge, which have less infrastructure and which have weaker medical systems.

Mention has been made of the Rotterdam convention of 1998, which seeks to promote cooperation between countries in the international trade of hazardous chemicals. Canada, once a reputable nation in environmental matters, has been in there with India, China and Kazakhstan in trying to ensure that measures are not taken on asbestos and that restrictions in this area are thwarted. Fifty-two countries have banned the mining of asbestos. That says something. First World nations have knowledge, which the member for Parramatta has just put forward, and we have had that knowledge for many decades. It is not debatable and it is not questionable—it is definite. Yet Canada is exporting this material. The ILO has joined with the Canadian Medical Association, the Canadian Labour Congress and the Canadian Cancer Society in condemning the action of the Canadian government in facilitating, supporting and promoting the continued export of asbestos for the dollar.

India is an expanding economy but there has been promotion of this product by reputable media there. They say it is very safe despite the fact that it is internationally known to be otherwise. The situation is that India will find it very difficult to deal with this product. Internationally 107,000 people die from asbestos related lung cancer each year. The building needs of India mean that there will be very wide usage of it.

India is also at the forefront in the dismantling of international vessels laden with asbestos. India not only imports asbestos for its building and construction industry but also has industries like this, which would not be allowed in the First World, where unskilled, illiterate Indian people are asked to dismantle these ships, thereby putting themselves in danger.

I am not just speaking about asbestos. I noted earlier the danger from other products—25 per cent of the worldwide use of pesticide occurs in the developing world but 99 per cent of acute poisoning deaths appear in those same countries. They do not have the infrastructure; they do not have the means of tackling and combating these problems. I commend the member for Reid for raising what is a very fundamental health issue, which Australia should also be raising in international forums.

See this speech in context