Rachel Uren

Here’s the sober reality, and it dwarfs any fantasy about “asbestos in wind turbines” by several orders of magnitude. Australia isn’t dealing with a few grams of asbestos in imported brake pads. We are dealing with millions of tonnes of asbestos left across the continent from a century of mining, construction, and industrial use. Here are the key facts, drawn from the Australian Asbestos Safety and Eradication Agency (ASEA), state health authorities, and historical mining records. ⸻ THE REAL ASBESTOS RISK IN AUSTRALIA: MILLIONS OF TONNES FROM MINING, NOT RENEWABLE ENERGY 1. WA’s Wittenoom (blue asbestos): 3 million tonnes of tailings Wittenoom Gorge was once the largest crocidolite (blue asbestos) mine in the world. •3 million tonnes of asbestos-laden tailings dumped across the landscape •Tailings used as road base, building fill, and even playground surfaces •Townsite now contaminated across hundreds of hectares •WA government still removing families and demolishing structures into the 2020s •Thousands of workers and residents dead or sick This is the largest contaminated site in the Southern Hemisphere. Nothing in renewable energy comes remotely close. ⸻ 2. NSW’s Baryulgil (white asbestos): contaminated soils + community health crisis James Hardie operated the Baryulgil chrysotile mine for decades. •Tailings used for roads, yards, community areas •Chronic mesothelioma cluster among Bundjalung families •Asbestos present in soil, drainage, and building materials Again: actual, widespread environmental contamination. ⸻ 3. Queensland asbestos mines: widespread diffuse contamination QLD had several dozen chrysotile mining and milling sites. •Contaminated pits •Abandoned mine waste •Residual fibres in soils •Remediation still ongoing at multiple sites These are real contamination sites, not hypothetical. ⸻ 4. South Australia: Woodsreef (near Barraba) One of Australia’s largest asbestos dumps. •25 million tonnes of asbestos-containing waste rock •Piles up to 70 metres high •Fibres still blowing in dry conditions •Ongoing state monitoring since the 1990s This alone makes the “asbestos in a lift brake pad” story laughable. ⸻ 5. Building legacy: 6,000+ products, millions of homes Between 1940 and 1990 Australia imported and manufactured over 1 million tonnes of asbestos-containing materials. This includes: •fibro sheeting •lagging •insulation •adhesives •concrete pipes •roofing •brake pads •cladding •gaskets •vinyl tiles •electrical boards ASEA estimates: •1 in 3 Australian homes contains asbestos •Many schools, hospitals, sheds, garages, and outbuildings still contain it This is the real asbestos burden. ⸻ TOTAL ESTIMATE: Tens of millions of tonnes of asbestos-containing waste remain across Australia Between abandoned mines, contaminated soils, industrial tailings, and asbestos-containing building materials, Australia is dealing with: ➡️ 20–40 million tonnes of legacy asbestos-containing material ➡️ Millions of contaminated sites ➡️ Hundreds of thousands of affected structures Compare that to: •a few grams of bonded asbestos inside lift brake pads in sealed machinery at a handful of wind farms. It’s not even in the same universe. ⸻ THE LINE THAT CUTS THROUGH THE HYSTERIA Australia has millions of tonnes of asbestos scattered across old mine sites, tailings dumps, roads, yards, and 1 in 3 homes — yet anti-renewables activists want you to panic about a few enclosed brake pads inside sealed tower lifts. It’s theatre, not public health.