The owners of homes contaminated by Mr Fluffy asbestos have presented a list of requests to the ACT government, seeking crisis support for those displaced from their homes and calling on the government to negotiate with the Commonwealth to compensate owners for the costs of demolishing and rebuilding.
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The convener of the Mr Fluffy Owners and Residents' Action Group, Brianna Heseltine, met with Attorney-General Simon Corbell on Friday to discuss the government’s response to Canberra’s asbestos situation.
On Saturday, nearly 300 members of the group attended a town-hall style meeting where they vowed to fight for an ultimate resolution to the 50 year-old problem – demolishing every Mr Fluffy home.
They also received a briefing from Maurice Blackburn Lawyers on what could become a multi-billion dollar class action based on economic loss.
Mr Corbell said the meeting had been constructive and he had last week held the first high-level meeting with Commonwealth representatives to discuss the Mr Fluffy crisis.
He was also "cognisant of the immediate problems facing some of these homeowners and I will be seeking whole-of-government agreement on steps to deal with them".
More than 1000 homes are thought to contain remnant amosite asbestos as a result of having Mr Fluffy amosite asbestos pumped into their roof cavities as cheap insulation during the 1960s and 1970s.
The Commonwealth during the late 1980s spent $100 million removing the asbestos from roof cavities, but a home in Downer was missed in the clean-up and tests last year showed the asbestos had moved down the walls and into the subfloor, prompting the government to write to Mr Fluffy homeowners in February, warning that their houses might not be safe.
"It's been four long months since affected families received a letter that changed their lives," Ms Heseltine said. ''Many families are at breaking point. Lives have been hijacked by mental anguish and stress, job losses, the breakdown of relationships, and a sense of deep despair at the absence of any supporting policies for crisis assistance.
"Our families respect the government's desire to get this right, but hotel bills are mounting and kids are living away from their homes. Families are needing to replace their entire wardrobe contents. Investment property owners are falling over with the weight of covering two mortgages where homes have been vacated."
Ms Heseltine said around 10 families were currently homeless and required urgent government assistance to cover hotel or rental accommodation and to replace contaminated clothing and personal items that had to be destroyed.
The group also wanted financial assistance for investment property owners for loss of rent where tenants have terminated leases or been forced to leave due to contamination.
They have called for the full suspension of rates for every Mr Fluffy block pending a review of diminished land values due to ongoing contamination and for the Commonwealth to provide full coverage for annual X-rays and health screening for everybody who had lived in a Mr Fluffy home.
In the longer term the group wants the ACT government to negotiate a package with the Commonwealth government to provide funds for every owner to demolish their home, decontaminate the land and rebuild in line with current size and features.
"Our families want Canberra to know that regardless of the different circumstances, we all lacked crucial knowledge about the amosite asbestos in our homes. Some of us installed a product signed off by the Commonwealth government, and didn’t know the risk. Some of us stayed after the removal program, and returned after being told our homes were safe. Some of us are recent purchasers who didn't know our homes were ever affected," Ms Heseltine said. "We desperately need the ACT and Commonwealth governments to end our exposure to a banned substance that can never be removed from our homes."
Ms Heseltine said the group was pro-disclosure and wanted the ACT government to maintain a central register of Mr Fluffy homeowners to ensure information was personally addressed to owners and former owners when properties changed hands or new developments came to light.
They want sale contracts for affected homes to contain mandatory asbestos assessments so that purchasers are protected.
"We would welcome a government policy, suggested by a tradesperson, to install compliance plates in the main switchboards of affected homes to notify all tradespeople of the Mr Fluffy factor,” Ms Heseltine said.
The ACT government also needed to protect homeowners from potentially unscrupulous behaviour across the asbestos and building industries through tougher regulations to prevent price gouging.
Owners were distressed at the high costs of assessments and remediation work and a lack of standard operating procedures for sampling.
Ms Heseltine also met with ACT Opposition Leader Jeremy Hanson and Opposition industrial relations spokesman Brendan Smyth to discuss a possible meeting with the Prime Minister regarding Commonwealth assistance.
