The Australian government has established a new organisation to manage an Australia wide approach to deal with asbestos safely.
The Australian Office of Asbestos Safety will be formed as a response to recommendations contained in the Asbestos Management Review, an Australian inquiry into the use and management of asbestos in Australia, which was released in June this year.
Australian Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations Bill Shorten, who has shown his support on asbestos initiative throughout the year, announced the creation of the Office of Asbestos Safety to remedy the lack of a nationally coordinated approach to the issue of asbestos, as highlighted in the Asbestos Management Review.
This is the first time in Australia that Commonwealth, State and Territory governments will work together on an Australia wide strategic plan to battle asbestos and the dreadful conditions that are associated with it, such as asbestosis and mesothelioma. It is great to see states such as New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland and South Australia all working together to try and stop asbestos related conditions like pleural mesothelioma and asbestos related pleural disease.
Australia used to have the highest use of asbestos per capita worldwide, so it is about time that Australian policy is updated to combat the consequent implications, such as increasing cases of asbestos compensation claims, including mesothelioma compensation claims and asbestosis compensation claims.
