On Friday 15th April at the Moe Racing Club the Gippsland Trades and Labour Council held its annual Labour Day Dinner. Many attended the event and one of the highlights on the night was watching as Alison Parker was awarded a Life Membership of the Gippsland Trades and Labour Council. This award was most deserving as Alison has been a staunch supporter of the GTLC for many years. It was terrific to see such a great honour bestowed on a wonderful lady. Congratulations Alison from all of us at ACV/GARDS.
ACV/GARDS Life Memberships & the John Parker Community Activism Awards for 2 Special Ladies
On Friday 15th April 2016 at the Moe Racing Club the Gippsland Trades and Labour Council held its annual Labour Day dinner. The dinner was well attended and the highlight of the night was watching our President Dorothy Roberts and our Vice President Marie Smith receiving their Life Membership awards from Vicki Hamilton CEO/Secretary of ACV/GARDS. The ladies were also awarded on the night another great honour from the Gippsland Trades and Labour Council with the John Parker Community Activism award. Neither lady knew anything about the awards until they were announced so it came as a complete surprise to both of them. Dorothy has been with ACV/GARDS for 16 years and Marie has been with ACV/GARDS for 12 years. They are the first females at Asbestos Council of Victoria/GARDS to be honoured in this manner, previously 5 males held the honour. We were all very proud of Dorothy and Marie when they were bestowed the John Parker Community Activism Award by the Secretary of the GTLC, Steve Dodd. Both ladies are very deserving of both awards and at 80 and 86 respectively we think they are doing a wonderful job. Well done ladies we are so proud of you both. There will be a special afternoon tea on the day of our support group meeting, Tuesday May 31st at 1.30pm – 41 Monash Road, Newborough for all ACV/GARDS members and supporters to come and celebrate Dorothy and Marie’s awards. Please phone the office to advise if you are coming for catering purposes. All are welcome.
National Asbestos Response Grinds To Halt As Federal Government Withholds Funding
Asbestos support groups have slammed the Federal Government for allowing the national
response to the deadly mineral to grind to a halt over a funding dispute with the independent
government agency tasked with overseeing its eventual eradication.
Setup with bipartisan support in 2013, the Asbestos Safety and Eradication Agency has been
working with state and territory governments on a coordinated plan to address ageing asbestos
products located in millions of homes, workplaces and public buildings.
But support groups say that process has ground to a halt because the agency has been unable to
access the funding needed to implement the plan.
“The whole situation is like a bad episode of Utopia,” Asbestos Council of Victoria / GARDS
secretary Vicki Hamilton said.
“We have an agency that was created to address a serious issue, that has spent several years
developing a national strategic plan that was agreed to by every state and territory, yet now can’t
access previously committed funding to actually put that plan into action.”
Ms Hamilton said the Federal Government was refusing to allow the agency to access $3 million
that was unspent in previous years to roll out the plan.
“A public service hiring freeze delayed the setup of the agency, while the need to ensure every
states and territory was happy with the strategic plan slowed down its adoption, meaning some of
the funding from the first two years went unspent,” she said.
“Now that those issues are resolved and there’s a clear course of action on the table, the Federal
Government is refusing to allow the agency to access that money to put the plan into action.
“It’s an absurd situation that has left support groups around the country asking whether the agency
has lost bipartisan support and whether this financial strangulation is simply closure by stealth.”
Ms Hamilton said ASEA has already dealt with a range of major issues in its short life, from
coordinating the inspectors who oversaw the remediation of Telstra pits after asbestos concerns
halted the construction of the NBN, to addressing the ongoing importation of asbestos products,
located in items ranging from trains, boats, and electrical equipment to Dora the Explorer crayons.
“It took more than a decade of lobbying for this agency to be created and for the Federal
Government to take the lead to eradicate the millions of tonnes of asbestos still in our community,”
he said.
“It’s heartbreaking to think that all that work could be lost because of a dispute over a few million
dollars.”
An program to control the removal of deadly asbestos is in danger of collapsing, according to the Asbestos Council of Victoria/GARDS Inc. It says the federal government is not releasing funding for the rollout of the Asbestos Safety and Eradication Agency.
Posted by WIN News Gippsland on Thursday, 31 March 2016
Asbestos Imports Putting Australians at Risk!
It is about time the Federal Government started to take a hard line against importing and selling asbestos in Australia. People who import and resell asbestos products in Australia are breaking the law (no excuse for ignorance – the importer should make sure they know exactly what they are purchasing from overseas) The fines should be far higher than they are now with jail as a an option for peddling dangerous goods (carcinogenic) – the only way to stop this dangerous trade is to make sure the risk is far greater than the reward.
Asbestos Council of Victoria/GARDS Inc has called on the Federal Government to introduce tougher penalties for those guilty of importing the dangerous substance. A senate inquiry into the issue resumed today, and the council says its vital the findings have to be acted upon.
Posted by WIN News Gippsland on Friday, 19 February 2016
ACV/GARDS NEW COMMITTEE 2016/17
The ACV/GARDS organisation would like to welcome a new member to the committee of management, Sharyn Fenech. Sharyn has taken a position on the committee as Ordinary Committee member and will be a wonderful asset to the organisation with her wealth of knowledge. Sharyn’s background is in banking, where she spent a number of years before retiring to care for her husband Peter, to help him battle with mesothelioma. Peter sadly passed away last year in March 2015. We congratulate Dorothy Roberts on being re-elected as President and David Fairbairn being re-elected as Treasurer. We wish all the members of the committee every success in 2016.