With the beautiful weather we experienced for Memorial Day, we once again held the service in conjunction with the Salisbury Council in Pitman Park, Salisbury, and thank them for their organisation and hard working teams.
Gillian Aldridge (Mayor of Salisbury), speaking at this year’s service, reflected on those who have passed from Asbestos Related Disease (ARD’s) and acknowledged that Asbestos is a silent killer.
Kyam Maher, Attorney General of South Australia, spoke about how more Australians die from ARD’s than from car accidents each year, and that engineered stone has been banned from sale as a result of the evidence of health risks and cases of silicosis which are now linked to its use.
Glenn Farrell (Executive Director of SafeWork SA) spoke on the significant amount of ageing asbestos containing material that remains in our environment and our Community. There is ongoing need to be vigilant to prevent people from being exposed to asbestos fibres and the need to focus on proactive, safe removal of asbestos.
Sean Hill (SA Unions) said that banning asbestos and helping victims is now not controversial, but let’s remember that it wasn’t always the case and how in the fight with Silica, the same industry tactics are being used.
We thank Robert Taylor for his Welcome to Country, Ray Chivers for the opening prayer, Shaun Falkenberg for speaking on behalf of the family of Jim Wilton, and Sonja Klebe (Flinders University Professor in the College of Medicine and Public Health) for her update on current research (AMBR Project). We also thank the Royal Caledonian Society of SA for their performance, and Neve Sargeant for singing (Both Sides Now) so beautifully. Once again we thank Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU) for providing the BBQ to bring people together at the end of the service and The Rotary Club of Salisbury (SA) for help with the crosses.
