December 13th, 2004

The NSW Greens has requested that a special stamp duty be placed on Jamie Hardie shares in order to raise the necessary compensation funding for victims that were affected by the products of the manufacturing giant. James Hardie has been in the news more often than not lately for failing to pay compensation to victims exposed to asbestos that have died or still face an early death.

Representative, Lee Rhiannon, made a plea directly to the NSW ‘s Bob Carr, stating that the stamp duty could help to provide injured parties with the compensation they deserve, and could also go some way towards funding government prosecution. Rhiannon stated: "The Carr Government still has plenty of tools at its disposal to pursue James Hardie and one highly effective option could be to levy a stamp duty on share trades. This would put further pressure on the company and its board, sending a very strong signal to investors and speculators in James Hardie stock that this is a tainted institution."

There are more than seven hundred victims of James Hardie products, all of who are trying to get compensation for their pain and suffering. However, after James Hardie announced early this year that there was a shortfall of over a billion dollars, the victims are still fighting for justice. Lee Rhiannon went on to state: "The revenue raised could go towards asbestos victims."