Matt Burnell (Spence, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

After this House adjourns, I, like many of us, will be returning to my electorate for a very brief moment before returning back to Canberra for the next sitting week. Tomorrow morning, in my electorate of Spence, I will be attending a memorial service at Pitman Park in Salisbury that has been organised by the Asbestos Victims Association of South Australia. This memorial ceremony is held here annually during National Asbestos Awareness Week.

The reason why the memorial is held here is due to the fact that, up until 1987, James Hardie owned and operated a plant not too far away from where we will have a minute of silence and then lay floral tributes. Those floral tributes are to honour the memory of a number of workers that were exposed to deadly asbestos fibres at that factory, along with their families that were exposed simply by inhaling fibres in dusty clothes that were brought home after a long day's work. I will be there alongside representatives from the union movement, particularly Peter Bauer, the state secretary of the AMWU—a union whose workers past and present dealt, and continue to deal with, asbestos exposure. I also thank my colleague and electoral neighbour the member for Makin for taking the opportunity to speak about this extremely important issue in this place yesterday. I look forward to seeing him at the ceremony tomorrow morning.

Asbestos awareness and safety is a vitally important issue, and giving this issue the attention it deserves will save lives. Many people out there are still exposed to asbestos fibres from incorrect handling or not identifying building materials containing asbestos fibres while they undertake do-it-yourself and home renovation work. There's a common misconception that this is an issue of the distant past. It is just as relevant in 2022 as it was decades ago, back when people should have been informed about the risks but were allowed to mine it, manufacture it and handle it. Sadly, for some people, it is already too late. Many out there don't even know this is the case. This is because it can take years for asbestos fibres to make someone sick, whether it is by way of sustained exposure or by an acute exposure. The damage is done.

For those who contract an asbestos related disease, it causes a great deal of upheaval in their lives and their families' lives. Then there are the consequences to their health, and, as we know, these consequences are ultimately grave ones. Many were simply not aware of the risks. Many had those risks assumed on their behalf by people and companies that knew but exhibited malevolent indifference to the health and safety of their workers and customers and of other people who would come into incidental contact with their wares. I would not want to know how I would react if I were in their shoes, but I don't think I could exhibit half the strength of some of the people I've met in my travels who have had their lives cursed by asbestos. Many out there have fought the good fight, seeking justice and, more importantly, making it their mission to make sure they've done their bit to prevent anyone else from going through what they have as a result of asbestos. That last quality is particularly what makes someone a true legend of the labour movement, immortalised.

These legends include people such as Bernie Banton, a man who fought James Hardie to the very end for justice for himself and others; Terry Miller, who worked at the James Hardie plant in Elizabeth West; and Jack Watkins, who has a memorial named in his honour in Kilburn, South Australia, where another memorial service will take place tomorrow. Another legend is one I have the privilege of working with every single day. That person is my chief of staff, Mathew Werfel. He is not only my chief of staff but also the chairperson of SA Asbestos Coalition and a director of the Asbestos Diseases Research Institute. He is, of course, a living victim of an asbestos related disease.

But, truth be told, I think we could do with fewer legends out there to begin with, because that would mean fewer people have to suffer in the ways they have. The best way of achieving that is ensuring that we continue to use the platforms we have available to us during Asbestos Awareness Week to get their message out to people, and I intend to do just that.

House adjourned at 16:59

The DEPUTY SPEAKER ( Ms Chesters ) took the chair at 09:29.