As Australia approaches its first National Asbestos Awareness Day, Victoria remains the only state not to sign up to the national plan.
The federal government published the National Strategic Plan for Asbestos Awareness and Management 2012-2018 in July 2013, in response to a management review report in June 2012.
The review found the location and identification of asbestos-containing materials was “critically important” to developing management strategies. It concluded “data from municipality-based asbestos location registers” should be aggregated and mapped to create a database of asbestos locations.
But Municipal Association of Victoria (MAV) president Bill McArthur said councils do not have the resources to collect such information. The plan outlines six strategies to stop the spread of asbestos-related diseases: awareness, best practice, identification, removal, research and international leadership. Cr McArthur said the state government and the MAV did not agree with the third strategy: identification. He said Victoria “would develop its own plan” to address asbestos-related diseases.
National Asbestos Awareness Day is on November 29.
