James Hardie compo fund flags major problems with victim compensation

8 May 2009

 Trustees of the James Hardie Asbestos Injury Compensation Fund (AICF) this afternoon met with the leadership of four major victims advocacy groups in Sydney, where the advocacy groups were advised of problems with the fund set up to compensate victims of James Hardie asbestos products.

 Commenting after the meeting, ADFA President Barry Robson confirmed the news was grim.

 “The fund has advised they will have problems meeting their 3-5 year compensation targets and have flagged the possibility of compensation payments by instalment.  There is a substantial shortfall in funding required to meet obligations, arising from the impact of the recession on James Hardie.”

 “All victims groups attending the meeting are opposed to instalment payments, the bottom line is instalment payments don’t work so well for people who are dying.”

 “We may need to call on both the NSW and Federal Governments to help find an alternative solution.”

 Attendees of the meeting include the leadership of the Asbestos Diseases Foundation of Australia (adfa), the Asbestos Victims Association of South Australia (AVA-SA), the Queensland Asbestos Related Diseases Support Society (QARDSS) and Gippsland Asbestos Related Diseases Support (GARDS) as well as NSW Manufacturing Workers State Secretary Paul Bastian and victim legal counsel Tanya Segelov of Turner Freeman Lawyers.

 The groups will now attend a meeting at 3-30pm, with the NSW Attorney General to discuss the problem.

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