Ed Husic (Chifley, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary to the Shadow Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This lead paragraph in a Tory Shepherd piece featured in the Adelaide Advertiser is absolutely staggering:

A SEMAPHORE man dug through a pile containing asbestos while part of a Work for the Dole scheme, sparking fears for worker safety.

Unbelievable! The article goes on:

… he was sent to a Torrensville site last month.

"The first day, one of my tasks was to remove some material, dirt, charcoal from down the side of the premises. The next morning when (the supervisor) asked me to start digging into his material, I noticed asbestos material on top, right where I was working the day before…

This is unbelievable. He is then quoted as saying that:

He found it hard to get anyone to take his concerns seriously, even after the material had been identified as the potentially deadly material.

That is absolutely disgraceful. As is pointed out:

Just one asbestos fibre can cause deadly asbestosis, which is a serious scarring of the lungs.

This happened in late October, and this is significant because in April this year a tragic incident caused the loss of life of a Work for the Dole participant. The government has undertaken an internal review. It refuses to release the details of this internal review. And it refuses to demonstrated that the safety of participants in Work for the Dole is secure, and it needs to release this report right now.