CLICK HERE TO SIGN OUR ePETITION TO THE WA LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL
Dear Members and Friends,
The Asbestos Diseases Society of Australia has been working for over 30 years to create a permanent memorial to Australia’s worst industrial disaster - Wittenoom - and to remember all the West Australians who continue to lose their lives to incurable asbestos diseases.
During Asbestos Awareness Month in November 2022, we had the privilege of meeting with the Hon Peter Foster MLC, Member for Mining and Pastoral Region, which incorporates Wittenoom. Prior to being elected, Mr Foster was a Councillor for the Shire of Ashburton for ten years. As such, he has developed a compassionate and caring understanding of the continuing loss of life from asbestos diseases, and the impact it has on families, friends and our communities in WA.
Since our meeting, we have been working to prepare and submit an ePetition to the WA Legislative Council for a lasting memorial and we are delighted to say that the Hon Peter Foster has sponsored our petition and it is now live. You can read the details of the petition below. The ePetition requires a few hundred signatures before 31 March, after which time we will be able to present our original Change.org petition with over 5300 signatures. Although it may seem like double handling, it is part of the government process so that our full petition can be heard.
We would be hugely grateful if you could spend a minute registering your support on the WA Parliament's website - click here to be redirected. If you have any questions, please call our office 08 9344-4077 or email info@asbestosdiseases.org.au.
Kind Regards,
Melita Markey (CEO) & Robert Vojakovic AM JP (PRESIDENT)
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To the President and Members of the Legislative Council of the Parliament of Western Australia in Parliament assembled. We the undersigned ...
In 2018, the Asbestos Diseases Society of Australia unveiled a small memorial plaque at Solidarity Park, West Perth. The plaque commemorates the 4,000+ West Aussies who have died from asbestos-related diseases and remembers those who were victims of Australia’s worst industrial disaster.
The CSR Wittenoom Mine and Mill is the greatest example of workplace negligence in Australia, and second in the world to date.
Wittenoom was a blue asbestos mining town in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. Despite health warnings as early as 1948, it continued to operate until 1966, killing thousands of workers, their families and town visitors. One of those visitors was the Minister of the Crown Mr Ernie Bridge MLA, who died from Mesothelioma which he contracted during his time dealing with the town's closure.
Today, we continue to lose many lives to the deadly asbestos dust from Wittenoom.
While we are very grateful to both the CFMEU WA and Unions WA for allowing the memorial plaque in Solidarity Park, our members and friends from Wittenoom have requested a permanent memorial, not just for the workers but also for their children, families, visitors, and local Traditional Owners of the land, many of whom have since lost their lives to deadly asbestos diseases.
Wittenoom has been taken off the map and cannot be accessed by road; for many this creates a situation where there is not a place of memorial to grieve lost loved ones.
We therefore ask the Legislative Council to both enquire into and to support our efforts for the construction of a permanent memorial in Perth and the Pilbara in partnership with the State Government, the Shire of Ashburton, the Banjima, Yinhawangka and Nyiyaparli traditional owners, and the Asbestos Diseases Society of Australia
And your petitioners as in duty bound, will ever pray.