The Wire

When the management and board of James Hardie Industries undertook a complex legal and financial restructuring of the company in 2001, they were hoping to distance their company from its asbestos liabilities. Responsibility for asbestos compensation was transeferred to the Medical Research and Compensation Foundation, and Hardie’s parent company and assets were transferred offshore. The foundation was left with only $293 million to fund all future compensation claims. Those actions have come home to haunt Hardie’s management in recent times. The release today of a Special Commission of Inquiry into the Medical Research and Compensation Foundation by David Jackson QC, has found significant evidence of false and misleading conduct, and underfunding of the compensation fund. James Fletcher was at a press conference in Sydney today where unions and asbestos victims gave their reaction to the report. He spoke with Paul Bastian, Secretary of the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union; Bernie Bantan, Vice-President of the Asbestos Diseases Foundation; Reg Stevenson, former President of the Asbestos Diseases Foundation and Helen Davis, wife of Laurie Davis, Mesothelioma victim.

Report of the Special Commission of Inquiry Into the Medical Research and Compensation Foundation
Asbestos Diseases Foundation