Mr Fluffy - Where are the Feds?

Any further financial assistance from the Federal Government would be useful, and appropriate, given that it appears the then federal bureaucracy was aware of risks with Mr Fluffy some time before action was taken. I imagine though, the bulk of the cost will fall to the ACT, and if it comes to the crunch, something else might need to go – like the northside tramline, for instance.

However it is done, action sooner, rather than later, is surely in the interests of all – not just those who have the terrible misfortune to be in a Mr Fluffy home. Of course, if the ACT Government buys all the Mr Fluffy homes, and arranges for careful clearance and demolition, the vacant blocks should be quite desirable – many would be in sought-after locations – and so the net cost to the ACT Budget may not be nearly as great as might first be assumed.

[I don’t have a Mr Fluffy home, and I don’t know anyone who does – so the foregoing comments are not about direct self-interest].

Hargreaves is forgetting that the responsibility for designing the clean up program and ongoing engagement with home owners was the new ACT Government’s. Anyone who knows about the clean up knows the new ACT Government made a mess of it, and there’s a theory that the proportion of homes discovered to still be contaminated severe enough to require evacuation are in that state because of those errors.

The ACT and Commonwealth have always shared the cost of this and they must continue to, because it’s the safety of the public that matters and they both have plenty of fault.

What I will agree with is the unfair focus on Katy Gallagher, which smells of cheap journalism by the Times.

CutSnake said :

John, I agree the Feds should pay something, but there is no excuse for the ACT government not to get on with it even if they don’t. This isn’t about 1000 unfortunate families, it is a public health issue that affects every single person living in Canberra. Every neighbour, every electrician, plumber or anyone in building trades, every child that goes to play at someone else’s house, every babysitter or gutter cleaner, every fire fighter or SES worker that helps us in emergencies, every child in the class where a child comes to school in contaminated clothing. So no more excuses please, just get on with it.

Yup

switch said :

Maya123 said :

Where do those fibres blow to?

Same place all the asbestos that used to be in brake linings blew to: the open environment. It’s all still out there around us…

Yes, and we’re all dying of mesothelioma, hadn’t you noticed?

Do the Fluffy-hysterics understand the level of risk?

Did I see a news item of some people suiting-up in order to visit their Fluffy-house which they had abandoned after having spent years living in it without suits? umm……

Maya123 said :

Where do those fibres blow to?

Same place all the asbestos that used to be in brake linings blew to: the open environment. It’s all still out there around us…

I think asbestos roofs of houses should be looked at being replaced too. I’m not saying at government expense. At least asbestos walls are painted, or should be, and if kept in good condition seal in the asbestos, but the unpainted roofs are open to the wear of the weather. Where do those fibres blow to?

John, I agree the Feds should pay something, but there is no excuse for the ACT government not to get on with it even if they don’t. This isn’t about 1000 unfortunate families, it is a public health issue that affects every single person living in Canberra. Every neighbour, every electrician, plumber or anyone in building trades, every child that goes to play at someone else’s house, every babysitter or gutter cleaner, every fire fighter or SES worker that helps us in emergencies, every child in the class where a child comes to school in contaminated clothing. So no more excuses please, just get on with it.