Australia’s Federal Government has decided to spend $7 million creating new jobs for Barangaroo workers, despite the recent asbestos controversies surrounding the Sydney project.
Over 3,000 new apprenticeships and construction jobs are being introduced to the Sydney site to provide more opportunities for older and indigenous Australians.
However, many are concerned that the introduction of so many new jobs will only increase the number of people at risk of asbestos exposure unless asbestos regulations are tightened. This could then increase the occurrence of asbestos related conditions such as asbestosis and mesothelioma.
Lend Lease’s management of the huge Sydney project has already come under scrutiny several times this year. Asbestos has been discovered by NSW’s CFMEU, which resulted in Australian workers walking off the job to protect themselves from asbestos exposure, and also by NSW’s Environment Protection Authority last week, where chunks of asbestos was found in soil taken from the Sydney site.
Australia’s Skills Minister Chris Evans told the ABC that the monitoring of asbestos at the Sydney site was up to NSW authorities, not the Australian government.
Small amounts of exposure to asbestos can result in conditions such as pleural mesothelioma, being the asbestos cancer that is most well known in Australia thanks to the great campaigning by persons such as Bernie Banton.
