FORMER members of the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) are seeking compensation
for asbestos-related diseases that they say were caused during their years
of service. A possible link between naval service and the development of
asbestos-related diseases was revealed last week with the announcement that
the Governor of New South Wales, Sir David Martin, a former naval officer
with 40 years service, was suffering from mesothelioma.
Until the 1970s, asbestos was commonly used on RAN vessels for insulation
and as a fire retardant. The Asbestos Victims and Industrial Cancer Society
of New South Wales said last week that thousands of past and present naval
personnel have been afflicted with asbestos-related diseases. The aircraft
carrier HMAS Sydney, one of 14 ships on which Martin served, was labelled
as ‘asbestos-ridden’ by the society.
