Lisa Chesters (Bendigo, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That this House:

(1) notes that:

(a) the Government's Asbestos Safety and Eradication Agency's (ASEA's) Chief Executive Officer, Mr Peter Tighe, describes the emerging problem of asbestos importation as growing exponentially;

(b) the ASEA's independent review of the end-to-end border processes for the asbestos border control, resulting in the Asbestos Importation Review Report (KGH Border Services, March 2016), was conducted in just four weeks, had narrowly constructed terms of reference and lacked consultation with all affected parties; and

(c) at the new $1.2 billion Perth Children's Hospital, an imported roof panel has tested positive for chrysotile, an asbestos substance banned in Australia;

(2) acknowledges that:

(a) Australia has one of the highest rates of asbestos-related death and injury in the world, with 33,000 people having already lost their lives to asbestos-related diseases; and

(b) around 700 Australians die each year from asbestos-related diseases, and without proper management, experts worry that tens of thousands of Australians could be diagnosed with asbestos-related diseases in the coming decades;

(3) condemns the Government's inaction since the completion of the Asbestos Importation ReviewReport; and

(4) calls on the Government to significantly increase the penalties available for those guilty of importing products containing asbestos.

Last week, in the media, we had more reports about asbestos entering our country and appearing on building sites. It is not a rare occasion and there is a need for urgent action. Again, the government has being caught asleep at the wheel when it comes to asbestos importation. Let us not forget that asbestos is banned in our country, and it is banned for good reason—asbestos kills. We have had too many Australians, too many workers, lose their lives to asbestos related illnesses. Rather than acting on this issue, what the government has done instead is blame the union. They have blamed the union, the CFMEU, that speaks up and speaks out against products containing asbestos entering worksites.

Australia has one of the highest rates of asbestos related death and injury in the world. We know that 33,000 people have already lost their lives to asbestos related illnesses. Around 700 Australians die each year because of asbestos related diseases and, without proper management of our borders, more and more Australian workers will lose their lives if the government does not get serious about cracking down on asbestos importation.

What happened last week that motivated the Labor side to move this motion today in parliament? Well, let us look at some of the media reports of last week. Asbestos has been found in Brisbane at a state government site in a new building. The same company was involved where asbestos was found in Perth in the children's hospital. These are two expensive projects being funded by state governments where the builders have imported products from China containing asbestos.

But it is not just these two cases. Asbestos has been found in the Sydney WestConnex project. This is a project that we hear speaker after speaker rave about in this place. Yet how alarming is it for the residents of Sydney to discover that asbestos has been found in the building products of the WestConnex Sydney project. Asbestos has also been found in a hotel development in Hobart. Asbestos is getting through our borders. Asbestos is in our workplaces. These are just a few of the cases where the union and WorkSafe have entered in the various jurisdictions to make complaints to get products tested.

Yet we have not seen action from this government. Instead, the Minister for Immigration and Border Protection blamed the union and said it is the union's fault that asbestos is getting into this country. How laughable is it for the minister for immigration to say that it is the union's fault! Let's get this straight: the minister who is responsible for keeping this product out of our country is blaming the messenger who blew the whistle on the fact that there is asbestos in this country. To be frank, the government has completely failed in its response to stop illegal asbestos importations coming into our country. It is not spending enough on cracking down and testing this product. We all know that in China asbestos is not illegal, but it is in our country. The government needs to invest more to stop this product from getting in. We condemn the government for its inaction.

We also condemn the government for their report. It was limited, it was brief and it did nothing to really address the concerns that are being raised in this space not just by the union but also by the industry. In fact, the Master Builders Association of Tasmania actually stated in the ABC report about asbestos being found in a Macquarie Street hotel redevelopment in Hobart that asbestos was prevalent in Tasmania. The report said:

… the Master Builders Association said the incident was concerning, but asbestos was prevalent in Tasmania's building industry.

It called upon people:

… to consider where they're getting their fill from, the source of that fill, and just have a think about whether it may contain asbestos …

This is from the Master Builders Association. This is not just the workers raising this issue; this is also the Master Builders Association raising this issue. The government should be condemned, and they should act on this issue now and seriously.

Lucy Wicks (Robertson, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Is there a seconder for this motion?

Tim Hammond (Perth, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am delighted to second the motion put forward by the member for Bendigo, particularly in relation to (1)(a) of the motion, and I reserve my right to speak.

Keith Pitt (Hinkler, National Party, Assistant Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is a great pleasure to once again to be back in the House and speaking on something which is an important issue. I of course acknowledge the other side in the process. I will look at some of the comments from the member for Bendigo before we get to the substantive issue.

Firstly, this is a serious issue, certainly for me and a number of other people in this room who are likely to have been exposed to asbestos. I will assume my good friend the new member for Fisher, as a former carpenter, would understand just what that means. It is certainly something which plays on your mind. It is certainly something that you are aware of. For people who have worked not only in the construction industry but also in heavy industry over many years, asbestos unfortunately is a fact of life. Asbestos contaminates our worksites. On some things we do agree: we need to ensure that we do not continue to import such a devastating product.

However, this is not just a political blame game. We need to understand the practicalities of exactly how difficult it is to identify asbestos. It is not something which can be seen, smelled or heard. You certainly cannot tell that a product is an asbestos product simply by looking at it. The only way that you can identify an asbestos product is to have it sampled. They have to use a particular type of microscope to identify it, and that is typically done in a NATA registered laboratory by someone with extremely good qualifications, such as an occupational hygienist or somebody similar.

The reason it is so difficult is that asbestos fibres are less than five micron, typically. There is a whole range of asbestos products The three types of asbestos you can usually see are chrysotile, amosite and crocidolite. They are known as 'white', 'brown' and 'blue'. For those of us who come from heavy industry, we are very well aware of just how deadly blue asbestos can be. In fact, in my former workplace where I did my trade, there used to be people employed as laggers, if you can believe that. Their job was to bundle up blue asbestos in a bucket, mix it into slurry and then pack it onto steampipes. Unfortunately, many of those people lost their lives. A lot of them I knew very well; they were personal friends. To have lung cancer or mesothelioma is a terrible way to lose your life. However, I will move to the substantive matters.

The idea or concept that we can sample every single piece of product that comes into Australia that may or may not contain asbestos is, unfortunately, ludicrous. The typical products that you may or may not find asbestos in that are here in this country right now are things which are legacy items. It is not just roofing and wall sheets; it is things like brake pads and piping—anything to do with underground pipes from the fifties, sixties and seventies. Anything which is made of fibre is typically asbestos. Those products already exist. The concept that we could test every single product that comes into this country is just a ridiculous position to put forward. For example, mastic is something which is used to seal. Black mastic has a very, very high asbestos content and very, very dangerous levels of asbestos. People who are not aware of that tend to go out and do very silly things such as heat them up, which releases the fibres, because, quite simply, asbestos cannot affect you unless you inhale it.

It is a difficult problem, but we are taking a sampling approach. Since 1 July 2015, the Australian Border Force have targeted 1,936 high-risk shipments, which has resulted in 144 examinations and 13 detections of asbestos contaminated goods. Unfortunately, there is no other way to do this. You simply have to take a sample and test it. So the only debate that we can have is about the number of samples and how quickly that might be done. This is a significant increase from 2014-15, when there were 273 shipments targeted, resulting in 20 examinations and 10 detections.

Clearly, the good thing about construction is that it is underway, so someone must be funding it, and that is incredibly important. But it is also important to note that health and safety in the workplace is typically the responsibility of the state government. They have the resources, they have the inspectors and they have the people who are trained to do the investigations. The Border Force, of course, are continuing to do their work, but we should look at Labor's record. Labor's record on this is appalling. Federal Labor actually cut $734 million from the Border Force budget and 700 staff from the Australian Customs and Border Protection Service during their time in government. That is not a good reflection on someone who is intending to do more samples and more inspections of asbestos products.

Briefly, in wrapping up, I must say that I actually went into a place in another country—I will not say which one—where they had samples of asbestos bags being wrapped up. You could walk in and have a look as they made these things on the demonstration floor. That was very surprising. That is not something we should see in this country, and we must continue to fight to ensure that we do not have asbestos products here.

Joanne Ryan (Lalor, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am pleased to rise today to speak on the motion moved by the member for Bendigo because of the importance of the motion that is before us today. The member for Bendigo quite rightly raised this issue in this place today because it is one around safety. It is incredibly important that we have many people coming into this place to raise this issue and raise the profile of what is, to put it bluntly, an absolute disgrace.

We have just heard from the member for Hinkler. He came into this chamber to speak on this motion today, but unfortunately he has failed to grasp the danger of this product, although he clearly demonstrated that he understands the danger of asbestos in our workplaces, in our buildings, in our cars and in our brake pads. He understands that danger very clearly. Yet, as a member of the government, he needs to raise this issue in his caucus room. He needs to raise this issue with the Minister for Immigration and Border Protection to ensure that something is put in place to ensure that this practice stops, and stops now.

The Asbestos Safety and Eradication Agency CEO has outlined a dire situation. There is no good reason for Australians to be dying of asbestos related illnesses into the future. We all understand the history of this product. We understand that it took years to have the dangers of this product made public and for those people who have suffered terrible deaths from exposure to this product to be compensated. We understand that that is ongoing. But to be in a situation now where we are importing products with asbestos when we fully understand the dangers is outrageous.

I will go straight to the heart of this issue. The member for Bendigo raised the notion that the immigration minister blamed the unions for the importation. I think it was some kind of roundabout argument that wages are too high and therefore people are trying to cut corners. Well, that is it: people are trying to cut corners. They are trying to reduce the costs of building in this country at the expense of safety—not just worker safety but public safety. This is an absolute outrage and the minister for immigration should be acting here. I condemn him for his lack of action to date in this space.

It is clear that asbestos related products are coming into our country, coming into our building sites and coming into our factories when we all know the dangers and we all know that that should not be occurring. It has been found in cement compound board imported from China and even in sealing tape installed between roof sheets. This is not good enough. Workers in this country understand their rights, they understand safety in the workplace and I applaud them for taking the action that they have taken to bring this to government's attention.

The minister for immigration needs to think long and hard. Let's face it: the minister for immigration is someone who likes to speak about keeping our borders safe. In fact, it is his favourite theme and his favourite topic. Well, this is an area where he can take real action to keep our borders safe, to keep our people safe from a future where we continue to bring asbestos products into this country. We know what that will look like. We have seen the deaths in the past. We know what this will do.

Safety is the cost of doing business in this country. We have high standards. We have high product standards. We have high occupational health and safety standards. There is no point demonising the union movement in this way, but that is the pattern that we see. We are seeing the union movement demonised for getting in the way; we are seeing them demonised for adding to the cost of building. We look at that picture, and then we look at this picture, where we have a minister who is not taking appropriate action, who is not ensuring that improved testing arrangements are put in place to ensure these products are not coming in.

We have a minister for immigration who likes to make videos to send to other countries about keeping our borders safe. Well, how about sending some videos into the countries where these products are being made? How about sending them some videos highlighting for them that in Australia we have high standards around safety practices and that this product is not welcome inside Australia? I would like to see the minister for immigration make a video about that. I will applaud him when he does.

Andrew Wallace (Fisher, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today to talk about the Turnbull government's determination to protect the nation from the silent killer that is asbestos. The member for Hinkler talked about tradespeople, of which I was one, and I did have significant exposure to asbestos dust. It is very much on my mind, as they say, that asbestosis has about a 30-year incubation period and I am reaching that 30 years, virtually to the day. So I am very cognisant of the dangers of asbestos.

One of the unwanted legacies of the 20th century building boom was asbestos. There has been innocent exposure which has resulted in complex health problems for many thousands of Australians later in life. The people at greatest risk of developing an asbestos related disease are those that frequently undertake repairs, renovations and other work which can generate the release of asbestos fibres into the air. The one thing that is not addressed by many people when they talk about asbestos, particularly in my own home state of Queensland, is that hundreds of thousands of homes contain asbestos. Hundreds of thousands of homes, not just in Queensland but across this country, contain asbestos.

That is not to take anything away from the significance or the risk of asbestos, but one needs to put it in context. Every home and every building built before 2003 contained asbestos. Breathing in asbestos fibres has been linked to three asbestos related diseases—asbestosis, mesothelioma and lung cancer—all of which can be fatal. Asbestos related diseases take time to develop. They usually emerge at least 10 years after exposure but can sometimes take up to as long as 50 years. There are no current cures for these diseases.

It is for this reason that the Australian government is serious about maintaining tight controls on products containing asbestos coming into this country. Australia is strongly committed to a coordinated national approach to dealing with asbestos. It is, in fact, a global leader in asbestos control and one of only a few countries that has had a total ban on asbestos since 2003.

In accordance with our commitment, in August 2015 the government released the National strategic plan for asbestos management and awareness 2014-18. Endorsed by all state and territory governments, the plan has, for the first time, secured a coordinated national approach among Commonwealth, state and territory governments for dealing with asbestos.

Since its establishment on 1 July 2015, the Australian Border Force has been our first line of defence in preventing goods that pose a risk of containing asbestos from coming into the country. We can assure the nation that this increased level of intensity will be maintained. The Australian Border Force works proactively with a range of federal, state and territory authorities to address concerns about the importation of asbestos. This multilayered approach includes education, campaigns and outreach activities.

Additionally, the ABF is working with relevant Chinese government bodies to enhance cooperation on the asbestos border control. The ABF uses profiles and alerts to target specific goods, countries of origin, suppliers and importers of concern. The ABF constantly refines this targeting activity based on intelligence received. The ABF undertakes interception and intervention activities targeting high-risk building products, which may result in testing and seizure of these goods. Unlike illegal firearms and other prohibited items, asbestos cannot be detected through X-ray screening or other detection and examination capabilities deployed at the border.

The Labor Party's record on this is poor. (Time expired)

Lucy Wicks (Robertson, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The time allotted for this debate has expired. The debate is adjourned and the resumption of the debate will be made an order of the day for the next sitting.