The health consequences of asbestos exposure are being felt heavily throughout Australia especially in Queensland where every six days one Queenslander is diagnosed with an asbestos related condition such as the cancer mesothelioma.
In an effort to reduce this figure the Queensland Government is working to set up an asbestos register which will identify legal asbestos dumping reserves. This will hopefully reduce the amount of illegal asbestos dumping that occurs which has seen local and State governments spend tens of millions of dollars per year cleaning up.
In additional to this, the Queensland Government has also allocated $1.5 million to fix high risk asbestos in government buildings mainly focusing on schools.
Asbestos exposure in schools has been a problem for a long time and is extremely scary because there is no way of knowing whether staff, children or contractors have been exposed to asbestos. This is a major challenge for the Queensland Government and they are even looking into placing labels on asbestos material in schools to reduce health risks.
Bruce Flegg Minister for Public Works and Housing has said that any asbestos removal plans implemented by the Queensland Government will increase the demand for more legal asbestos dumping areas and the establishment of a register. As these buildings are getting older the need grows to have safe areas were toxic asbestos waste can be dumped.
All of these plans being worked on by Queensland Government are steps to reduce the number of people that are contracting asbestos related diseases such as mesothelioma and asbestosis. Hopefully these plans will contribute to creating an asbestos free Australia and reducing the number of new mesothelioma compensation cases in Queensland which experts have expected to peak over the next decade.
