RBA $500m blowout: National body questions whether leaving asbestos in place is still best policy
The RBA’s shocking $500m asbestos removal bill has exposed a ticking time bomb in Australia’s buildings and experts say the deadly material can no longer be simply ‘left alone’.
When the Reserve Bank of Australia’s renovation budget blew out 40-plus per cent to $1.2bn after the discovery its Sydney headquarters were riddled with asbestos, it served as a timely reminder that the nation is still in the midst of an epidemic caused by the deadly fibres.
Asbestos-related diseases kill twice as many people as the national road toll each year even though use of the product has been banned for 22 years.
The RBA was shocked at the extent of its asbestos problem, revealed last month, but statistically it probably shouldn’t have been.
Federal government data shows the nation is nearing the peak period that products with asbestos in them are reaching “end of life” (a harsh term to use in this context) and need to go to waste.
It’s great news for the big four waste and landfill operators Cleanaway, Veolia, Bingo, Remondis and JJ Richards – which are understood to make margins of up to 50 per cent-plus on the hazardous waste. But not for renovators such as RBA governor Michele Bullock.
The central bank chief has faced fiery criticism for the cost blowout, with a number of people expressing views – including in the comments section of this newspaper that asbestos, as long as it’s left alone and intact, is safe.
This is not necessarily the case. Asbestos and Silica Safety and Eradication Agency chief executive Jodie Deakes, says this assumption should not be taken in perpetuity given the products asbestos is contained in are now up to 100 years old.
“For some time, the regulation and the tactic has been: maintain it, make sure you don’t put holes in it, make sure you take care of it. If it’s not breaking up, it’ll be fine. But now it’s getting to end of life. It starts to deteriorate,” Ms Deakes says.
Her agency is tasked with co-ordinating a national plan with all the state and federal regulators for managing asbestos and Ms Deakes believes it’s time to consider changing the recommendation on what to do with asbestos when found in what’s currently considered a “safe” state.
The agency predicts there is still 6.4 million tonnes of asbestos containing material in the built-up environment, across commercial and residential. That’s a 40 per cent drop from the peak during the 1980s but because the fire doors, plaster board, piping and insulation it’s often found in are decaying, the risk of harm is rising.
Add to that, the volatile nature of the Australian environment.
“This is a country that has fires, floods, cyclones,” Ms Deakes says. “It gets damaged and once it becomes damaged, it’s more likely to create the fibres that are really dangerous, and that’s what we’re seeing now.
“If we don’t start thinking about proactively removing it from the built environment … we are going to have more disease and a lot more cost.”
Ms Bullock has already decided to take the cleanest route and remove the asbestos, found in all the usual places but also between the layers of concrete on all 26 floors of the RBA headquarters in Martin Place, Sydney.
Her landmark building has asbestos – both friable and bulk – throughout. The friable asbestos removal works will need to be completed within negative-pressure enclosures by workers in full PPE during removal activities. Workers will need to enter and exit via decontamination units and all works will be carried out in accordance with SafeWork NSW, supervised daily by a third-party hygienist.
No wonder the renovation bill has surged by almost $500m. The RBA is self funded and will cover this cost itself, but that money would have otherwise been distributed to the government as a dividend.
For the average home renovator, a policy change such as the one the Asbestos and Silica Safety and Eradication Agency, could add a huge price tag, depending on what state they reside.
NSW has the highest government taxes on landfill at $174.20 per tonne, followed by Victoria and closely by South Australia. These levies – which come on top of the cost that the private landfill owners charge – are supposed to encourage recycling.
But given asbestos cannot be recycled it is surprising that it is usually stung with this tax too.
Queensland does not charge its $125 levy on asbestos as a single load (as opposed to mixed with other waste.)
The Queensland Department of Environment, Tourism, Science and Innovation (DETSI) would not respond to questions about whether its policy of allowing asbestos to be taken to landfill without a government tax has led to asbestos from New South Wales being transported across the border to be disposed of at a cheaper rate.
In a written statement a spokesman provided an unrequested comment that asbestos was not able to be recycled and that “transport of asbestos waste into Queensland requires an application, assessment and then approval (consignment authorisation) from DETSI.”
The Northern Territory has no landfill charges for waste.
Many people in the waste industry have advocated for uniform levies across states to prevent it being trucked across borders.
Mining pioneer Lang Hancock developed the largest mine, Wittenoom, in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. He sold it to CSR in the 40s and focused instead on iron ore, a decision that helped his daughter Gina Rinehart become Australia’s richest person.
In its boom, asbestos was lauded as the “magic mineral” for its durability, fire resistance, and insulating properties.
Nowadays the whole former township of Wittenoom – where the boom began – has been deregistered and declared a contaminated site, in a land area that spans one fifth of the Chernobyl exclusion zone. According to Maurice Blackburn, more than 2000 workers and residents of Wittenoom have died from asbestos-related diseases.
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