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Interim Report: Protecting Australians from the Threat of Asbestos

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Interim Report: Protecting Australians from the Threat of Asbestos The Senate Economics References Committee Non-conforming building products Interim report: protecting Australians from the threat of asbestos November 2017 © Commonwealth of Australia 2017 ISBN 978-1-76010-687-4 This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Australia License. The details of this licence are available on the Creative Commons website: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/au/ Printed by the Senate Printing Unit, Parliament House, Canberra. Senate Economics References Committee Members in the 45th Parliament Senator Chris Ketter (Chair) Queensland, ALP Senator Jane Hume (Deputy Chair) Victoria, LP Senator Sam Dastyari New South Wales, ALP Senator the Hon Ian Macdonald (from 15 February 2017) Queensland, LP Senator Jenny McAllister New South Wales, ALP Senator Nick Xenophon (to 31 October 2017) South Australia, NXT Senator Peter Whish-Wilson (from 14 November 2017) Tasmania, AG Senator Cory Bernardi South Australia, AC (from 5 December 2016 to 15 February 2017) Senators participating in this inquiry Senator the Hon Kim Carr Victoria, ALP Senator John Madigan (44th Parliament) Victoria, IND Senator Glenn Sterle Western Australia, ALP Members in the 44th Parliament Senator Chris Ketter (Chair) Queensland, ALP Senator Sean Edwards (Deputy Chair) South Australia, LP Senator Matthew Canavan (to 23 February 2016) Queensland, NATS Senator Sam Dastyari New South Wales, ALP Senator Jenny McAllister Victoria, ALP Senator Dean Smith (from 23 February 2016) Western Australia, LP Senator Nick Xenophon South Australia, IND Secretariat Mr Mark Fitt, Secretary Ms Penny Bear, Senior Research Officer Ms Hannah Dunn, Administrative Officer PO Box 6100 Ph: 02 6277 3540 Parliament House Fax: 02 6277 5719 Canberra ACT 2600 E-mail: [email protected] iii Table of Contents Membership of the Committee ........................................................................ iii Recommendations .............................................................................................vii Acronyms ............................................................................................................ xi Chapter 1 ................................................................................................................... 1 Introduction .............................................................................................................. 1 Conduct of the inquiry ............................................................................................ 2 Background ............................................................................................................. 4 Structure of this report ............................................................................................ 5 Chapter 2 ................................................................................................................... 7 Australia's asbestos regulatory framework ........................................................... 7 Australia's asbestos ban .......................................................................................... 7 Sources of illegally imported asbestos ................................................................... 8 Coordination of agencies with asbestos responsibilities ........................................ 9 Whole of government approach ........................................................................... 14 Consultation with stakeholders............................................................................. 17 International cooperation ...................................................................................... 20 Chapter 3............................................................................................................ 27 Ongoing issues ......................................................................................................... 27 Asbestos-related disease risk ................................................................................ 27 Workers—the last line of defence ........................................................................ 29 Inadvertent procurement ....................................................................................... 33 Enforcement of the asbestos importation ban ...................................................... 35 The tip of the iceberg ............................................................................................ 38 Stopping asbestos at the border ............................................................................ 39 Prosecutions and Penalties ................................................................................... 41 Chapter 4............................................................................................................ 47 Increasing accountability and reducing exposure ............................................... 47 Accountability ...................................................................................................... 47 Due diligence systems .......................................................................................... 51 A model for best practice ..................................................................................... 55 Work health and safety ......................................................................................... 56 Recall powers of consumer products containing asbestos ................................... 61 National public asbestos register .......................................................................... 64 Ships imported to Australia which contain asbestos ............................................ 66 Next steps for the inquiry ..................................................................................... 67 Dissenting Report by Coalition Senators ........................................................ 69 Appendix 1 ......................................................................................................... 71 Submissions and additional information .............................................................. 71 Appendix 2 ......................................................................................................... 83 Public hearings and witnesses ............................................................................... 83 Appendix 3 ......................................................................................................... 91 Countries with bans on all types of asbestos ........................................................ 91 Appendix 4 ......................................................................................................... 93 Goods that might contain asbestos ........................................................................ 93 Recommendations Recommendation 1 2.49 The committee recommends that through the Council of Australian Governments, the Australian Government pursue a coordinated and consistent whole of government approach to strengthen federal and state legislation and regulations to address the illegal importation of asbestos. Recommendation 2 2.50 The committee recommends that the Australian Government adequately fund the Asbestos Safety and Eradication Agency so it is able to deliver the next National Strategic Plan for Asbestos Management and Awareness and to carry out its other functions, both current functions and new functions set out in recommendations in this report. Recommendation 3 2.62 The committee recommends that the Department of Immigration and Border Protection and Australian Border Force undertake an external review of their industry consultation arrangements with a view to strengthen and formalise the contribution from stakeholders. Ideally, these should be through formal meetings on a regular basis with those who are on the front line who are adversely impacted by illegal asbestos importation. Recommendation 4 2.87 The committee recommends that the Australian Government continue to strongly advocate for the listing of chrysotile asbestos in Annex III of the Rotterdam Convention and support a change in the voting rules if required for this to be achieved. Recommendation 5 2.88 The committee recommends that in the event that the Australian Government is unsuccessful in listing of chrysotile asbestos in Annex III at the 2019 Rotterdam Convention, the Australian Government should consider pursuing bilateral or multilateral asbestos treaties with importation disclosure requirements equivalent to an Annex III listing. Recommendation 6 2.89 The committee recommends that the Australian Government in its course of the regular review of free trade agreements with other countries, include in the review provisions regarding asbestos containing materials. Recommendation 7 2.90 The committee recommends that the Australian Government continue its support for asbestos bans internationally and promotes awareness of the risks of asbestos in the Asia-Pacific region. vii Recommendation 8 3.26 The committee recommends that the Australian Government require mandatory Asbestos Awareness Training for a wide range of occupations in the construction industry and provide adequate funding for nationally accredited training for this purpose. Recommendation 9 3.37 The committee recommends that the Department of Immigration and Border Protection and Australian Border Force consider the merits of developing and implementing a comprehensive education campaign for all importers of the risk and responsibilities regarding asbestos
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