Monday, 7 April 2025
Government House
Her Excellency the Honourable Margaret Beazley AC KC

Bujari gamarruwa

Diyn Babana Gamarada Gadigal Ngura

In greeting you in the language of the Gadigal, Traditional Owners of these lands and waterways, I pay my respects to their Elders past, present, and emerging.

On the way in here this morning, you would have passed through the Inner Hall, which features portraits of our more recent NSW Governors. Amongst them is a painting of Rear Admiral Sir David Martin, the first NSW Governor to come from the ranks of the Royal Australian Navy, which he served in, with considerable distinction, for more than 40 years.^[1]

Sworn in as Governor on the 20^th of January 1989, Sir David would become one of our most popular Governors, dubbed by the media “the people’s Governor.” He would also, however, be our shortest serving.^[2]

In early May of the year following his swearing-in, it was announced he was stepping back from public engagements due to a “bronchial disorder”.

Later that month, the then-Premier Nick Greiner informed Parliament that the Governor had been diagnosed with mesothelioma, probably caused by exposure to asbestos insulation during his service on HMAS Sydney in the early 1950s.^[3]

In June, the Queen accepted Sir David’s request for early retirement “with much sadness,”^[4] and, on the 7^th of August 1990, after only 19 months as Governor, Sir David—”breathless and shaky”^[5]—left Government House.^[6] Three days later, he was dead.^[7]

For all in this room today, Sir David’s story, if not in the details, at least in the broad sweep of its outline is depressingly familiar. An exposure to a workplace hazard, the appearance of symptoms sometimes decades after that exposure, and the devastating consequences of the diseases it causes.

Today, around 4,000^[8] Australians will die every year from mesothelioma and other asbestos-related diseases, one of the highest rates in the world^[9], and more than twice our national road toll.^[10]

Although currently the bulk of these result from occupational exposure to asbestos fibres, with 1-in-3 Australian homes, particularly those built before 1990, estimated to contain asbestos, the proportional prevalence amongst D-I-Y-ers undertaking renovations without appropriate awareness or precautions is predicted to rise.^[11]

There is also the recent re-emergence in Australia of the scourge of silicosis, caused by the inhalation of silica dust and particularly prevalent amongst those working in the manufacture and installation of engineered stone.

Although such materials were banned last year—given both the delay in onset of symptoms following exposure and that up to 600,000 Australians have been exposed to silica dust, it is estimated that around 100,000 Australians will develop the disease over the coming years.^[12]

All of this is, of course, is unlikely to be news to anyone in this room.

Whether through the direct experience of the heartbreaking impact of asbestos and dust diseases on yourself or a loved one, through your frontline treatment and support of those diagnosed, through your efforts to research treatment options, through your advocacy and awareness-raising, every single one of you know that behind each of these statistics is a person.

As proud Patrons, Dennis and I commend the team at the Asbestos and Dust Diseases Research Institute (ADDRI) for putting those people at the heart of all you do.

Since 2006,^[13] you have not only been supporting collaborative and critical cutting-edge medical research into understanding, diagnosing and treating these diseases, but also providing wrap-around services for those affected.^[14]

Recent key achievements include:

• securing $5 million in government funding last year to expand your silicosis research and ^support[15], including:
  • the establishment of the Silicosis Support Hub—a one-stop national online resource for patients and carers.
  • And the first Australian statewide Occupational Respiratory Disease Multidisciplinary Team Meeting, launching in NSW in collaboration with Concord Repatriation General Hospital. The online MDT will provide a free resource for respiratory physicians in diagnosing and helping patients who have had occupational dust exposure.  This is a first for NSW.

• In January 2021 you were first designated by the World Health Organization as a Collaborating Centre for the Elimination of Asbestos Related Diseases, and in January of this year you were redesignated in this role. This again confirms the institute as a global leader in asbestos and dust-related diseases and asbestos mitigation—and the only stand-alone WHO CC dedicated specifically to the elimination of asbestos and dust-related diseases.

• Your partnership with the Federal Government via the national Asbestos and Silica Safety and Eradication Agency (ASSEA) to deliver two crucial projects:
  • The new Australian Clinical Guidelines for the Diagnosis and Treatment of Pleural Mesothelioma
  • And delivering international training across South East Asia. Indeed, we are a missing a few key attendees today as the team is in Brazil delivering crucial clinical training to local health professionals.

Such efforts are, of course, impossible without the generosity of ADDRI’s supporters. And here I thank, in particular, the Biaggio Signorelli Foundation, established by the Signorelli family in honour of Biaggio Signorelli, who died in 2008 from mesothelioma and whose dying wish was to help save others.

To all here today, for your part in striving to end asbestos and dust-related diseases, and supporting those impacted by them, I can only say one thing

Thank you.

[1] He joined the RAN as a cadet midshipman in January 1947 and retired in February 1988, having achieved the rank of Commander of the Naval Support Command: Ian Haddock, ‘Sir David Martin’, in David Clune and Ken Turner (eds), The Governors of New South Wales, Federation Press, 2009, pp.579-580.

[2] Sir David Martin, the 34^th Governor of NSW, held office for just 565 days, from 20 January 1989 to 7 August 1990: Ian Haddock, ‘Sir David Martin’, in David Clune and Ken Turner (eds), The Governors of New South Wales, Federation Press, 2009, p.578.

[3] ‘Greiner Tells NSW of Governor’s Asbestos-Linked Cancer’, Canberra Times, 25 May 1990, p.4, available here

[4] ‘Governor to Retire’, Royal Australian Navy News, 8 June 1990, p.3, available here

[5] ‘Sir David Breaks a NSW Tradition’, Canberra Times, 8 August 1990, p.6, available here. “in an unprecedented move, Sir David arranged to speak to the media just before his final farewell from Government House and Parade through Sydney’s streets. ‘If I get to puffing and panting a bit you can be tolerant,’ he joked before he read from his statement”: ibid.

[6] ‘NSW’s New Governor Another Naval Man’, Canberra Times, 9 August 1990, p.11, available here

[7] Ian Haddock, ‘Sir David Martin’, in David Clune and Ken Turner (eds), The Governors of New South Wales, Federation Press, 2009, p.584.

[8] ‘Asbestos Related Health Condition’, Asbestos in NSW website, available here

[9] National Asbestos Profile for Australia, Australian Government Asbestos Safety and Eradication Agency, 2017, p.5, available here. The high rate of mesothelioma and other asbestos-related diseases is related to Australia’s long history of asbestos mining, manufacture, and consumption (we were once one of the highest consumers in the world on a per capita basis). Mining of asbestos ceased in 1983, manufacturing during the 1980s, and a complete ban on imported asbestos-containing materials put in place in 2003: ibid, p.6.

[10] ‘Asbestos Related Health Condition’, Asbestos in NSW website, available here

[11] National Asbestos Profile for Australia, Australian Government Asbestos Safety and Eradication Agency, 2017, p.6, available here

[12] Provided by ADDRI. To this might also be added warnings about the potential silica dust exposure risks in tunnelling projects in NSW, prompting, for example, the NSW Government’s establishment last month of an expert taskforce: The Hon. Sophie Cotsis MP, Minister for Industrial Relations, Work Health and Safety, ‘New Expert Taskforce to Help Address Silica Related Health Risks for Workers in Tunnelling Projects’, NSW Government media release, 3 March 2025, available here; Sarah Gerathy, ‘New Taskforce to Tackle Impact of “Killer” Silica Dust on Thousands of Sydney Workers’, ABC online, 3 March 2025, available here

[13] ‘Our Board’, ADDRI website, available here

[14] For instance, securing government funding last year to expand silicosis research and support, including the establishment of the Silicosis Support Hub (available here)—a one-stop national online resource for patients and carers. The $5 million funding was announced in April 2024: ‘NSW Government Commits $5 million for Critical Research to Address Silicosis Crisis’, The Greek Herald online, 4 April 2024, available here

[15] The funding was announced in April 2024: ‘NSW Government Commits $5 million for Critical Research to Address Silicosis Crisis’, The Greek Herald online, 4 April 2024, available here