When former Darwin ABC journalist Matt Peacock recently launched his book , Killer Company –James Hardie Exposed , about the dire impact of the asbestos industry on Australia, we expected the Darwin media to do a follow up. After all , figuratively speaking , the city was knee deep in asbestos after Cyclone Tracy tore the place apart. Teams of Servicemen , wearing no protective gear, systematically worked through the shattered city cleaning up blocks. Indeed , this writer and his wife prepared jugs of lime juice for sweaty naval men who cleared our Nightcliff block . Asbestos sheeting was hanging from the remnants of the house . Many people lived in the shattered remains of houses which contained asbestos lining .
Photographs from the cyclone aftermath show clean up teams ,often only wearing shorts, working in the rubble. As there was no local media response to Peacock’s well researched expose, we fired off an email to him through the ABC’s 7.30 Report . Peacock said he recently had contact with a person in Perth,WA, who seemed to have developed asbestosis from the Cyclone Tracy cleanup . A doctor also felt his mother may have developed mesothelioma from asbestos louvres . A James Hardie marketing kit , using Aboriginal colours, had also been spotted at the Milikupati Council office about l981. (There was a report on Territory TV some months ago that asbestos was scattered about the remains of a building at an Aboriginal settlement.)
At the present moment , Little Darwin is aware that there is much shuffling of correspondence , including legal opinions , between the Darwin City Council , the NT government and the Federal government over a Cyclone Tracy dump containing asbestos at the Nightcliff waterfront. Nearby residents with children are naturally deeply concerned. A major series could be produced about asbestos in the NT.
UPDATE -No sooner had the above item been posted than the ABC ran reports on radio and TV about the Nightcliff asbestos dump . Somehow the assurance that there was no danger to the public was garbled. One report said the fibre level from the dump was low , while the DCC seemed to imply no fibres were escaping. Little Darwin believes some old fashioned investigative reporting into the subject of asbestos, past and present, in the Territory would unearth a disturbing picture.
Last month a call went out for two asbestos surveyors for a company which has secured large projects around Darwin and the NT . What is this all about ? Applicants from the UK were invited to apply .When fire raged through the old Phoenix Motel and nearby seafood cafe at Nightcliff in March this year there were fears that firefighters and police may have been exposed to asbestos. Smoke from the blaze spread across a large area. WorkSafe was to carry out an inspection before a report on the suspicious fire could by compiled for the coroner . So far there has been no public statement about the WorkSafe finding and progress on the police investigation for the coronial inquiry .
Photographs from the cyclone aftermath show clean up teams ,often only wearing shorts, working in the rubble. As there was no local media response to Peacock’s well researched expose, we fired off an email to him through the ABC’s 7.30 Report . Peacock said he recently had contact with a person in Perth,WA, who seemed to have developed asbestosis from the Cyclone Tracy cleanup . A doctor also felt his mother may have developed mesothelioma from asbestos louvres . A James Hardie marketing kit , using Aboriginal colours, had also been spotted at the Milikupati Council office about l981. (There was a report on Territory TV some months ago that asbestos was scattered about the remains of a building at an Aboriginal settlement.)
At the present moment , Little Darwin is aware that there is much shuffling of correspondence , including legal opinions , between the Darwin City Council , the NT government and the Federal government over a Cyclone Tracy dump containing asbestos at the Nightcliff waterfront. Nearby residents with children are naturally deeply concerned. A major series could be produced about asbestos in the NT.
UPDATE -No sooner had the above item been posted than the ABC ran reports on radio and TV about the Nightcliff asbestos dump . Somehow the assurance that there was no danger to the public was garbled. One report said the fibre level from the dump was low , while the DCC seemed to imply no fibres were escaping. Little Darwin believes some old fashioned investigative reporting into the subject of asbestos, past and present, in the Territory would unearth a disturbing picture.
Last month a call went out for two asbestos surveyors for a company which has secured large projects around Darwin and the NT . What is this all about ? Applicants from the UK were invited to apply .When fire raged through the old Phoenix Motel and nearby seafood cafe at Nightcliff in March this year there were fears that firefighters and police may have been exposed to asbestos. Smoke from the blaze spread across a large area. WorkSafe was to carry out an inspection before a report on the suspicious fire could by compiled for the coroner . So far there has been no public statement about the WorkSafe finding and progress on the police investigation for the coronial inquiry .
Asbestos was recently removed from a nearby run down building which was an early Nightcliff Woolworths store. Google and you find a Darwin asbestos lawyer and a statement by the Asbestos Information Support Service that estimated 13,000 Austalians would die in the period 2003-2020 from mesothelioma ,a further 40,000 likely to develop asbestosis with a 90 percent chance of developing full blown mesothelioma .
