Tony Zappia (Makin, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This week is National Asbestos Awareness Week—a week dedicated to continuing the campaign in raising awareness about the dangers of the use of asbestos and now silica. Asbestos related diseases kill something like 4,000 Australians every year. Around 700 of those are from mesothelioma. Mesothelioma alone costed the health system an estimated $33.7 million in 2021, with the cost of asbestosis estimated at $14 million. Although asbestos was banned more than 20 years ago, the number of cases being diagnosed every year continues to rise and the fact remains that one in three Australian houses, particularly those built between 1950 and 1980, still contains asbestos. Even more concerning is the fact that a number of countries that know full well of the dangers of asbestos continue to use the product. Countries like Indonesia, India, China, Russia, Brazil and others continue to use it each and every day. Across the world, the figures are hard to estimate, but I have seen figures of over 250,000 for the number of people dying from asbestos related diseases.

Silicosis is now the new asbestosis, and it leaves a very similar trail with respect to the number of Australians who are living with and dying from it. At least 579 Australians are living with this illness, and it has already caused the death of many others. Even more concerning, sadly, is that each and every day thousands of other Australian workers are working with the product—sometimes knowingly and sometimes unknowingly.

As part of the campaign to raise awareness about the dangers of asbestos and now silica, this Friday, the Asbestos Victims Association of South Australia will be holding a commemorative service, as they have done every year since 2005, at Pitman Park in Salisbury. As part of the service, they lay out on the lawns adjacent to the memorial stone a cross for everyone that we know has died from asbestos in recent years. Every year, the number of crosses continues to rise and now runs into the several hundreds. A similar service will be held by the Asbestos Diseases Society of South Australia on Thursday at the Jack Watkins Memorial Park, at Kilburn, where they will highlight the number of deaths attributed to asbestos and now silica. I again say to people that might be listening to or reading this speech that asbestos is dangerous. If you know of it, follow the guidelines with respect to dealing with it, and I say to governments of all persuasions that we need to continue not only the fight to stop the use of it but also the research into medical cures for it.