December 9th, 2005

Australian manufacturing company James Hardie has been backed into a corner by the New South Wales government with regards to its plan to put together a compensation deal for those affected by its asbestos products. The company has been under fire for the last year after many people claim to have been seriously affected by the exposure to deadly asbestos from the company’s products.

The New South Wales government has now stated that James Hardie must finalize a compensation deal within the next two weeks otherwise action will be taken to make the company pay out to victims. This comes after Hardie made a number of promises and claims over the last year with regards to coming up with a compensation plan.

The company originally promised to compensate victims around a year ago, but a year later has still not signed any compensation deal. The funds put aside for compensation payouts were evaluated and it was estimated that the funding would dry up around forty years too soon.

ACTU secretary, Greg Combet, said: "It's 11 months since we concluded the heads of agreement, and that's long enough for the legal documentation to be prepared. But James Hardie are still trying smart-alec lawyers' tricks."