New Law to Aid Victoria Asbestos Victims
Victims of asbestos exposure in the Australian state of Victoria will now be able to claim compensation for both asbestosis and, later, mesothelioma, thanks to a new law that is about to go into effect there.
According to an article in the Sydney Morning Herald, the new law – named after asbestos campaigner Bernie Banton, who died earlier this year - will remove a restriction that prevents asbestos victims making a further claim if their condition becomes a terminal illness.
Premier John Brumby said Victoria had lagged behind other states and the commonwealth in general in introducing such legislation. He believes asbestos represents “a unique problem for the legal system.”
The law needed to make an exception for asbestos victims because they were a “special class of people”, he said. “They are people who can’t know, having been exposed, whether they will go on to develop a devastating and fatal injury,” he said.
