James Hardie trying to cheat asbestos sufferers

James Hardie is again making headlines for its failure to compensate adequately the victims of asbestos-related diseases. As reported in early September, the company has indicated that it will apply to pay compensation to sufferers of asbestos-related conditions in instalments rather than a lump sum.

The high demand on the compensation fund reflects that, as the largest manufacturer of asbestos products in Australia until the mid-1980s, James Hardie bears great responsibility for the deaths of more than 600 people per year from asbestos-related diseases.

Those with mesothelioma, whose average life expectancy is 9-12 months from the time of diagnosis, would be denied the full benefit of their compensation in their severely reduced lifetime.

Those struggling with asbestosis will be denied the opportunity to choose how and when to spend their full compensation before their condition further deteriorates.

James Hardie has robbed so many of the chance to enjoy their retirement, their grandchildren and, in many cases, their lives. It is unconscionable that this company can take away yet another choice. As Barry Robson, president of the Asbestos Diseases Association of Australia, said, “Asbestos victims don’t die in instalments.” They should not be compensated in this way.

James Hardie has argued that the proposal is necessary to continue to pay claims on the compensation fund. The company says that from 2017 it will have to borrow from the commonwealth and NSW governments. It is crying poor and expecting taxpayers to pick up the bill for its corporate crime.

This is rich from a company that paid $580 million to its shareholders in the last two years and pays its CEO, Louis Gries, $11 million per year. It was also revealed in the Sydney Morning Herald on 29 September that James Hardie paid an average corporate tax rate of 0 percent.

James Hardie’s systematic cover-up of the dangers of asbestos is well known, including callously putting older workers in the dustiest areas of its factories, hoping that the effects of cigarettes and alcohol would kill them before they claimed compensation. Yet the company has been lauded for philanthropic contributions to the “Life. Be In It” program!

More recently, ASIC fined the executives who were found to have lied about the amount of money that would be required to compensate victims. How much? A princely $25,000, reduced on appeal from $30,000.