Christine, who didn't want her last name used,

She had not been told of the Mr Fluffy history of her Curtin home when she bought it in 1993, but a neighbour had mentioned it a few years later. She had alerted the architect during a major extension in 1996 but he had been unconcerned, and planning authorities had approved her redevelopment with no asbestos plan in place. With separate bathroom, kitchen and other renovations over the years, she estimated 50 or 60 tradespeople had done work involving breaching wall cavities.

“It beggars belief,” she said. “If I dwell upon it in a family sense it’s horrifying. My 11-year-old could be a mother in her 30s or 40s when she develops the disease, if she does, … and where does she go to get redress then?”

When she heard about the mail-out in February she was expecting a letter and was relieved when none came. But after double-checking with authorities, she discovered the truth: her letter had gone to the wrong address.

Christine has testing booked for this week, but is unsure whether it will help, given people are getting conflicting results for their homes. She is concerned about what happens if she needs to do urgent work on the house – whether tradespeople will do the work and what they will charge, and is worried also about what will happen with a business loan she secured off the value of her house.

She is unsure whether there is any advantage to registering with the government taskforce, and says if her home really does present a danger, registering and testing should not be voluntary. The first letter had been ambiguous, she said, calling for much clearer personalised communication with Mr Fluffy homeowners.

And she believes people will have been missed for other reasons. She has a friend who grew up in a Mr Fluffy house in Kambah, with her father removing the material himself when he discovered it – so that house was never in the official clean-up and remains outside the list of 1049 places on record.

Christine said her most pressing concern remained unanswered – the issue of whether, if tradespeople must be told, people visiting the house should also be told. She will cancel plans for her daughter’s slumber party in August.

Mr Hanson said the government must contact homeowners by registered mail to ensure the letters arrived.

“When you are dealing with people’s lives, peoples health and people’s potential financial ruin, and also when people fail to report and sell homes with Mr Fluffy there are very big fines, people need to know,” he said. “This is an urgent matter and everybody needs to know.”

Mr Hanson said the February mail out had been addressed “to the homeowner” like many spam letters and might never have made it to the homeowner, especially in tenanted properties.

Taskforce head Andrew Kefford said 152 people had registered by Friday afternoon, and he planned to write again to householders who hadn’t made contact and again ask them to register.

The 15- or 20-strong taskforce is expected to move into premises in Moore Street. Its first job was to contact everyone who registered and find out about their circumstances. Families would be advised to have asbestos testing done and the taskforce would help them with the next steps.

Cabinet meets on Monday to work out the details of an emergency financial package to help people forced out of their homes by the discovery of the loose-fill asbestos fibres in living areas.

Pointing to Chief Minister Katy Gallagher’s determination to “solve this once and for all”, Mr Kefford said the taskforce would take advice on all options from remediation to demolition.