Maryanne and Mike Bresnik are one of a small group of Queanbeyan families whose lives have been turned upside down by Canberra's now infamous Mr Fluffy insulation scheme.
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Their cause is being taken up by the now-vocal Canberra Fluffy Owners and Residents' Action Group, which has promised to fight for Queanbeyan to be included in a remediation package.
"If anybody is entitled to be outraged by a total lack of past government action on the highly toxic homes, it is the people of Queanbeyan," said the group's founder Brianna Heseltine.
When Dirk Jansen pumped deadly loose amosite into more than 1000 homes across Canberra in the 1970s, he also drove a few kilometres across the border and installed it in an estimated 60 Queanbeyan homes - 12 of which have been confirmed to contain the particularly dangerous form of asbestos.
The difference between Canberra and Queanbeyan is that Canberra houses were part of a $100-million Commonwealth clean-up in the late 1980s which removed the vast bulk of Mr Fluffy from roof spaces.
Queanbeyan was never included in the program - with homeowners advised to either seal up their homes or remove it at their own expense.
For the Bresniks, who raised three sons at their current address, the knowledge that their home contained pure amosite - a Class 1 carcinogen - was a terrible burden to endure.
They discovered the amosite in 1991, when their boys were 3, 5 and 8.
They tried desperately to lobby their local politicians to be included in the federal clean-up but were rejected.
They sealed all the openings in their home - from lights to kitchen vents. They could not afford to have the asbestos professionally removed until 2004 - when they extended their mortgage by nearly $50,000.
"We had to get it out, it was this terrible weight hanging over us," said Mrs Bresnik.
They also felt responsibility to their neighbours who risked exposure if there had been a fire or storm.
Mr Bresnik, a former deputy captain in the then NSW Fire Brigade, recalled receiving a call from his wife during one particularly violent storm, when the television antennae blew over and was hitting their tiled roof.
"We raced over, sirens blaring, the works, because if the tiles had come off, it could have blown everywhere."
The insulation was eventually vacuumed out, and the home was repainted and recarpeted while sofas and curtains were replaced.
"We finally felt safe," Mrs Bresnik said.
"And then we got excited and installed evaporative air conditioning, removed a wall and installed a deck."
"We had lived in fear for so many years it felt good to put it behind us," Mr Bresnik said.
Now it is clear that residual asbestos that has fallen down walls and into sub floors still poses a significant risk to Fluffy owners.
The Bresniks have just arranged to have their home retested and await the results.
"We feel that for us, it is too late, and probably for our sons too," Mrs Bresnik said.
"But we have a little 16-month-old granddaughter who comes over once a week. We need to protect her."
The Bresniks have decided to go public with their plight as Queanbeyan members of the Fluffy Owners and Residents' Action Group.
Ms Hesetline said that while the ACT and Commonwealth governments were working constructively to find a long-term solution for Canberra homeowners, she would not stand by to see Queanbeyan families left behind for a second time.
"The Queanbeyan story is one of deep and enduring grief for NSW and for Canberra. I call on the NSW and Commonwealth governments to step in to help these people. FORAG's 450 Canberra families have an expectation that Queanbeyan will be included this time. There is simply no other morally defensible outcome," she said.
She said talks were underway with the Commonwealth and NSW to encourage a partnership between both levels of government to tackle the problem head on.