Union in campaign to remove asbestos

Speaking at the Hobart launch of ABC journalist Matt Peacock's book Killer Company, about asbestos manufacturing company James Hardie and asbestos-related disease, Australian Workers Union national secretary Paul Howes said the union would build on work already undertaken by its Tasmanian branch to eliminate asbestos products.

"This will include the establishment of a national asbestos register but also a prioritised asbestos removal program.

"So many Australians don't understand that underneath their carpet, behind their walls, in their roofs, lays a ticking time bomb for the health of them and their children and future generations of those people who live in those homes."

Mr Howes said federal and state governments and companies such as James Hardie should foot the bill for the union's initiative.

"Ultimately we can remove this problem if we do have the proper research, if we make the companies like James Hardie pay for the problem that they created and if we have co-ordinated action from local government, state government and the Federal Government to remove all asbestos products, he said.

Workplace Relations Minister Lisa Singh, who launched Killer Company, said she hoped Tasmania was one day free of asbestos and asbestos sufferers.

"We need to look at prioritised removal, we need to look at disposal, we need to look at education."

Ms Singh said the Government's asbestos steering committee, due to finalise recommendations by the end of the year, would be looking at changes to the state's compensation laws in regards to asbestos-related disease sufferers.

Mr Peacock said he wanted his book, which includes newly discovered documents and interviews with more than 100 former James Hardie employees, to emphasise how widespread the problem of asbestos is.

"It will be in a lot more places here in Tasmania than we thought it was," he said.

"When it (asbestos-related cancer mesothelioma) happens in your family you don't talk about it very much because it's such a cruel experience but people need to talk about it more because it's an epidemic."