Canberrans are paying hundreds of dollars more to remove asbestos from their homes than people in other jurisdictions, according to a licenced operator.
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Frank Williams, who has come out of retirement three times since 1982 to remove, inspect and assess asbestos in the ACT and throughout NSW, said because of the higher costs, more people were risking doing the work themselves.
Mr Williams these days does inspections and assessments for asbestos removalist firms including Gibson & Harriden of Queanbeyan, whose employees Jamie Carpenter and Garry Harriden are removing bonded asbestos from Queanbeyan South School's walkway.
He said the ACT required assessment, removal, and a final inspection, whereas NSW had a more straightforward approach not requiring as many assessments.
He has sent a submission to the ACT government pointing out the cost disincentive and was told the system was foolproof.
''There's nothing foolproof about being ripped off,'' he said.
On average, having a licenced person remove bonded asbestos sheets from a bathroom would cost about $700. Asbestos in the roof or under tiles could add several hundred dollars.
''In the worse-case scenario you are looking at $900,'' Mr Williams said.
''If you get a bathroom, laundry and toilet done, you're looking at $1500 plus. So if they think they can get it done by doing it themselves, a lot of people will do it.''
Bonded asbestos was not as deadly as friable asbestos, but required a licenced operator to remove it.
''You've got to look at the cost against the risks. A lot of people don't think there is a risk with bonded asbestos which is completely untrue,'' Mr Williams said.
ACT Master Builders Association spokesman Jerry Howard said do-it-yourself renovators inspired by celebrities on television home shows were most at risk of asbestos-related diseases.
Mr Howard served on an ACT asbestos taskforce in 2004 which had estimated 4000 tradesmen and women, from painters, electricians, air-conditioning installers to bricklayers, should be competent in removing small amounts of bonded asbestos.
But only about 800 people from across the trades had undertaken specific training.
Litigation specialist Theodora Ahlias said each year about 750 people in Australia were diagnosed with mesothelioma, a terminal asbestos cancer, which made it a rare disease.
''I am seeing about 20 to 25 people diagnosed in the ACT, so for a small place with a small population it is quite a prevalent condition,'' Ms Ahlias, a principal of Maurice Blackburn, said.
The disease has a latency period of between 25 to 50 years. Ms Ahlias is now seeing a third wave of victims including children exposed from when their mothers and fathers were renovating homes, many being government homes built in the 1960s and 1970s.
Most homes in Canberra have asbestos. If they were built before 1985 it is even more likely they will have asbestos, according to Work Safe ACT.
