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House of Assembly - Fifty-Third Parliament, First Session (53-1)
2014-12-03 Daily Xml
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Asbestos Victims Memorial Service

Mr HUGHES (Giles) (15:34): I rise today to talk about the Asbestos Victims Memorial Service held in Whyalla last Friday. The service is held every year to remember all those local people who have died as a result of exposure to asbestos. Every year, the crosses at the memorial grow in number. It is estimated that 20,000 people will have died of mesothelioma in Australia by 2020, which does not count those who die of asbestos-related cancers and those affected by asbestosis.

I spoke at the memorial service and told the story of a former Whyalla resident, Mr James William Parker. I nominated Mr Parker, a pensioner, two years ago for the Whyalla Citizen of the Year award. I nominated him because of his protracted eight-year fight against the world's largest resource company, BHP Billiton, in order to obtain exemplary damages arising from his occupational exposure to asbestos.

Mr Parker was the first person in South Australia under the Dust Diseases Act 2005 to receive exemplary damages. Mr Parker moved to Whyalla in 1964 and eventually left to live in Adelaide due to ill health. While in Whyalla, Mr Parker worked as a shipwright at the BHP shipyards and, before his retirement, worked at Parsons following the closure of the shipyard in 1979.

The decision to award exemplary damages in 2012 was seen as a landmark decision. By winning exemplary damages, Mr Parker set an important precedent for all other claimants. In addition, the awarding of exemplary damages meant that BHP Billiton were no longer able to hide behind the fiction that they were not aware of the risk to workers and their families through exposure to asbestos fibres.

The Supreme Court held that in the 1960s and the 1970s, BHP should have reasonably foreseen that its use of asbestos-containing products could give rise to the risk of a life-threatening or seriously debilitating disease. The Supreme Court upheld the decision made in the District Court that BHP knew the dangers of exposure to asbestos yet did nothing to protect Mr Parker from this danger. Judge Lovell stated:

Mr Parker's asbestosis cannot be said to be the result of a casual act of negligence, or an isolated breach of duty. Instead it can be said to have resulted from the systematic failure by BHP to make its workplace safe.

While Mr Parker was pursuing his claim, BHP Billiton lobbied the South Australian government to set the presumption date for exemplary damages at 1979, thus excluding all former Whyalla shipyard workers. They did so, despite the fact that the link between asbestos and asbestosis was established in the 1920s. The link between lung cancer and asbestos was scientifically demonstrated in 1955, and the causative role of asbestos in inducing mesothelioma was put beyond reasonable doubt in 1960. Fortunately, the state Labor government rejected BHP Billiton's efforts on setting the date for exemplary damages.

When I asked Mr Parker how he felt when he won the case, he said it was a great relief. He said over the 8½ years he often felt like giving up but he battled on. He said it was not for the money but it was for all those others who would come after him, and you got the strong feeling that it was about the profound injustice that had been visited upon thousands who had been knowingly exposed to a life-destroying mineral fibre. Mr Parker acknowledged the work put in by his lawyer, Annie Hoffman.

I have had a lot of contact with BHP Billiton over the years and I have a high opinion of the individuals I have dealt with. Unfortunately, the company's approach in the area of asbestos compensation has not been one of their finer moments. I would like to finish by acknowledging the great work performed by the Whyalla Asbestos Victims Association and the support they have provided for those suffering from asbestos-related diseases and the support for family members. I especially mention the president John Arthur and his wife Marlene Arthur for the countless hours of work they have put in over the years.

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