Australia still has a long way to go before it’s asbestos-free, with asbestos being found consistently across the country. Only last week, locals in Sorell, Tasmania experienced a panic when large amounts of asbestos were found in the foundations of a girl’s guide hall.

The hall, which was demolished to build new council chambers, contained asbestos that was undetected during the demolition, and is currently under investigation by Workplace Standards Tasmania as a result.

The ABC reported that locals who lived at the Tasmanian property are considering moving away for fear of being exposed to the toxic asbestos and developing an asbestos related illness such as asbestosis or the cancer mesothelioma.

While the hall was cleared for asbestos when it was erected in 1973, asbestos was contained below the ground, and was only disturbed during the demolition.

According to the ABC, the Asbestos Free Tasmania Foundation said that this experience shows that asbestos removalists and environmental hygienists need to check below and around buildings for asbestos, rather than just inside them. Mesothelioma in Tasmania is a problem, just like in other Australian states. Australia has one of the highest rates of malignant mesothelioma in the world on a per capita basis.

Despite a ban and decline of asbestos use and distribution, the dangers and consequences associated with asbestos have not been left in Australia’s past. The Australian Mesothelioma Registry’s (AMR) first annual report has confirmed this showing that new cases of mesothelioma are developing all throughout Australia.

Australia is feeling the consequences of asbestos exposure very severely as the report revealed Australia as having one of the highest incidence rates of mesothelioma in the world. The number of new cases of mesothelioma in the last 10 years has been subject to fluctuation with a decline occurring from 2003 to 2006, only to see the numbers rise again in 2007.

In 2007 the number of new mesothelioma cases recorded by Safe Work Australia was 668, the AMR 2011 annual report showed this number to have increased once again. The registry recorded 842 new cases of mesothelioma between July 2010 and December 2011. However the actual number of new mesothelioma cases could exceed this figure as not all cases are reported to the Registry.

Mesothelioma is a serious problem for Australia not just because of the seriousness of the disease, but because experts have predicted that the number of new cases and deaths is likely to continue to rise. This rise can be linked to a rise in the number of people undertaking home renovations which the report revealed to be the most common circumstance of non-occupational exposure to asbestos. Hopefully the Government’s effort to make Australia asbestos free by the year 2030 will reduce the rise of new mesothelioma cases and help win the fight against this heartbreaking disease.

Another gauge on the numbers of Australians being diagnosed with mesothelioma is to look at the number of mesothelioma compensation claims in Australia. In NSW, mesothelioma compensation claims are brought in the Dust Diseases Tribunal of New South Wales. For mesothelioma claims in Victoria, the Supreme Court of Victoria is the relevant Court. For mesothelioma compensation claims in South Australia, such asbestos claims are commenced in the District Court of Australia located in Adelaide.

Under a $2.5 million NSW government contract a waiter, painter and retail sales manager who had no expertise in identifying asbestos was given the job of conducting asbestos audits in hundreds of New South Wales schools.

The NSW Ombudsman has released a report questioning the accuracy and reliability of the school’s asbestos registry. The Ombudsman has said that the NSW Department of Finance and Services chose a cheap tender to perform the audits in 2,335 New South Wales schools four years ago because they were more concerned with saving money then protecting people’s safety. As a result of the Department’s motivation to save money, all the audits had to be redone.

Deputy Ombudsman Chris Wheeler in his report confirmed that it is still uncertain how accurately the asbestos registers in NSW schools reveal the location of all asbestos containing materials. In addition to this uncertainty Wheeler raised the concern that perhaps all asbestos in these schools has yet to be identified.

The NSW asbestos audits are important so as to identify asbestos in NSW schools which can protect persons suffering asbestos related conditions such as mesothelioma.

Asbestos audits being conducted by unqualified persons may lead to many people being exposed to asbestos including students, staff, contractors that worked on the project and those that work at these schools in the future. This is a serious health concern as exposure to asbestos can cause a number of diseases including asbestosis and mesothelioma. The NSW Education Department will continue to work with Workcover to ensure the safety of the public in order to eliminate any chance of them contracting asbestos-related diseases including the cancer mesothelioma.

The Australia federal government has been engaged in an investigation into the possible disturbance of asbestos during the installation of satellite dishes in more then 1700 Australian homes as part of the digital TV rollout. Last year after discovering poorly trained contractors had dislodged asbestos from 20 Australian government owned homes during installation, the government decided to suspend the Satellite Subsidy scheme and launch two reviews of the program.

The first review revealed that out of 195 Australian government owned homes, 22 had experienced asbestos disturbance during the installation of satellites. However the question of whether asbestos disturbance is linked to the satellite dish installations is still unknown because the results of the second review have still not been released. The second review was conducted on a sample of 1733 privately owned Queensland homes who had satellites installed as part of the government program. The review and results were meant to be completed in December of last year however have still not been released.

If asbestos disturbance is found to have occurred in any of those privately owned homes Queensland, the Australian government is expected to review all the remaining privately owned homes in Queensland where installation by untrained contractors occurred. The federal government has confirmed that the 22 government homes where asbestos disturbance occurred have been cleaned up to the standards of the Queensland authorities.

Any works on Australian homes built prior to the mid 1980’s could involve the disturbing of asbestos, simply because in Australian homes built prior to this time, asbestos was often used as part of the construction. Home renovators in New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria and South Australia have pursued asbestos compensation claims following home renovator type asbestos exposure. Any exposure to asbestos can lead to one developing the asbestos related condition mesothelioma. Australia has one of the highest incidences of mesothelioma in the world per capita.