The Wire

The James Hardie saga may finally be over with the signing of a 4.5 billion dollar compensation agreement to be paid out to Australian asbestos victims over the next 40 years. However, the final signing of the agreement was subject to a number of conditions, one being that James Hardie would be allowed a tax break on the 4.5 billion dollars. Asbestosis victim Steve Wakefield worked with asbestos whilst he was a carpenter. He says the agreement means financial security for himself and all the people suffering from exposure to the deadly material. Jane McDermott from Slater and Gordon Lawyers says the payouts will be an estimated two hundred to three hundred thousand dollars for a retired person and significantly more for a person working full-time at the time of diagnosis. Whislt the payout is a victory, James Hardie may only have to pay 70 cents for every dollar of compensation as a result of their tax proposals in the agreement. Rick Sarre, Professor of Law and Criminal Justice at the University of South Australia says Peter Costello has refused the tax breaks because James Hardie is not an Australian Company, having moved most of the business to The Netherlands. He says as a result the final agreement is still uncertain.