Dangerous broken asbestos in 1000 public schools
Broken asbestos has been found in 1000 NSW public schools, with dozens of others discovered to have the most dangerous form of the deadly material. SEE THE FULL LIST
NSW
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More than 1000 of the state’s public schools contain potentially deadly asbestos, an analysis of the Education Department’s asbestos register has revealed.
The worrying statistics were revealed in NSW parliament on Wednesday, with Labor outlining an audit they had conducted that shows 109 schools had “friable asbestos” — a type which easily crumbles when touched.
Another 988 schools have “damaged” asbestos, which means it is breaking down and could pose a risk to children.
The figures were revealed at a hearing of Budget estimates for the department, with Education Minister Sarah Mitchell grilled about the issue by Labor’s Courtney Houssos.
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“Minister, this is not asbestos that is sealed up in walls, this is asbestos that is breaking down, that is underneath classrooms, that is debris that is potentially fraying in school toilets and staff toilets, in school libraries and halls around the state in over 1000 — so almost half of NSW schools,” Ms Houssos said.
“According to NSW Health, they say that broken and damaged asbestos can become loose and airborne and poses serious health risks.”
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Ms Mitchell told the hearing her department had a plan in place to manage the asbestos risk across NSW’s 2200 public schools, saying the safety of the 800,000 students in the state was “very important to me as minister”.
But Ms Houssos slammed the system, arguing the department had “buried” the asbestos register on its website and the data had not been updated since 2017.
When asked whether he could provide any updates on the status of asbestos at the schools on the register, Education Secretary Mark Scott said he would report back to the committee.
Mr Scott said the data represented a “historical picture” and if more information about asbestos was known the register would be updated.
However, he said the rollout of the government’s $500 million airconditioning plan would be made more complex by the presence of asbestos.
“That’s part of the cost of rolling out air cooling,” Mr Scott said.
The hearing was also told that a suspensions rate will be included in a review of discipline policies in state schools.
Last year 4 per cent of state school students — 32,300 children — received short-term suspensions with more than 9000 of these in primary school.