Mr Fluffy compensation scheme considered by ACT government

It came after the government gave a $250,000 "act of grace" payment to one Canberra man who contracted mesothelioma after playing in loose-fill asbestos as a child, the ABC has reported.

ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr said his government was looking at introducing a compensation scheme for those impacted by Mr Fluffy asbestos, which led the government to bring in a buy-back scheme and demolish thousands of homes.

Mr Barr said he would seek funding from the federal government for a scheme but wouldn't say how much would be requested.

"I can't put a dollar figure on it, but I presume it would be related to a number of cases coming forward," he told ABC Radio Canberra.

He said the federal government hadn't "engaged on the matter" and couldn't say when a scheme would come into effect, speculating a change of federal government might be needed.

Mr Barr said the government would consider other individual cases and might provide further act of grace payments.

He said the payments allowed in exceptional circumstances were currently the only mechanism available to the government to financially compensate mesothelioma sufferers.

"Given the ACT didn't exist at the time of Mr Fluffy there's a lot of moral hazard that taxpayers are taking on here, it's not just government it's everyone in the community who are making the decision on their behalf," he said.

Felicity Prideaux, a former Mr Fluffy homeowner and spokeswoman for the Mr Fluffy Homes Full Disclosure group, said she was "absolutely delighted" the ACT government had agreed to the $250,000 payment.

"This a little bit of validation about what we were trying to say for 5 years," Mrs Prideaux said.

Mrs Prideaux hoped the payment would open the door for compensation to be made to other affected people, including families who had lost loved ones after exposure to Mr Fluffy asbestos.

She repeated calls for a board of inquiry to be established into the crisis.

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