Ms Gallagher referred to one homeowner who had told her how hard it was to admit she had a Fluffy home and see people react with emotions from horror to sympathy. Owners felt socially isolated, unable to invite people to their homes, and guilt for having potentially exposed children and friends to asbestos. Owners' greatest fears were for their families, she said, tabling an impact statement from 333 owners.

"After reading all of these stories one thing is clear, not one of the people dealing now with such anguish knew of the risks present in their home and no one did anything wrong. I genuinely hope that by having a way forward, the distress which fills these pages can be eased and the upset and worry which so many speak of can be calmed," she said through her tears.

More than 60 owners watched from the public gallery. Among them was Jennifer Tonna, who lives with her two children, aged 4 and 6, in a Dickson duplex. The block is zoned RZ2, allowing multi-unit development, and given the government's determination to subdivide and consolidate blocks where it can to maximise the re-sale value, Ms Tonna acknowledges she will not be able to buy back her block, and will have to leave the community she has made her own. Both homes in the duplex will be demolished, with the neighbouring house contaminated by dint of having a shared ceiling space.

She bought the house in 2005 and suspects the previous owner, who had only had the home for nine months, had sold after receiving the 2005 letter alerting owners to the Mr Fluffy status of their home.

She didn't receive a letter in February and when she opened the registered letter in July, she felt physically sick, she said. Ms Tonna has more reason than most to fear cancer, with a sister dying of breast cancer at 44, another sister with a benign brain tumour, her mother contracting thyroid cancer and then breast cancer, and her father suffering from lymphoma. Ms Tonna had a double mastectomy last year and said she had felt relieved to put that risk behind her, only to discover now that she lived in a "carcinogenic house".

Few owners at the Assembly on Thursday were happy with the deal announced this week, but they largely blamed the Commonwealth, not the ACT for a tough deal.

"If only the Commonwealth had someone with a beating heart," Ms Tonna said.

Ian and Helen Towill bought their Fisher home 23 years ago, just after the clean-up, which ended in 1991, and they, too, suspect the previous owner sold because of the asbestos. Before they bought the home, they queried a mention of asbestos removal in their sale documents but were reassured there was no problem, and only discovered the reality in February this year. It had left them "devastated", the couple said, looking back on their children growing up in their home, which had been a meeting place for many kids in the neighbourhood, who visited to swim in the pool and gather in the downstairs billiards room.

The Towills say they have a beautiful garden which they will never be able to replace. They are now considering moving to Queensland, where their two children live.

They are concerned for people who want to buy back their land but will not be able to afford it, given plans to sell blocks as able to be strata titled. They accused the Commonwealth of shirking its responsibility. "The federal government has piked out of it," Ian Towill said. "What about a bit of financial assistance for those that want to stay?"

Ms Gallagher told the Assembly her decision to buy back and demolish the 1021 homes was "a big call" but she could not see any other way.

"We cannot let this legacy continue . . . Our decision to rid this city of Mr Fluffy once and for all, however difficult it is now, is without doubt in the long-term interests of the entire community.