Resident Paul Flanagan feared the government was set to "dig and dump", trucking the asbestos through the city, via Curtin and Weston Creek to west Belconnen, creating the risk of airborne asbestos. He estimated at least 700 truckloads would be generated.

Mr Flanagan said residents, 300 of whom had signed a petition about the asbestos, wanted the site made safe, but they were concerned the government was rushing the job without proper consideration of the risks.

First, there should be a survey of just how far contamination extended at the brickworks, given its 100-year industrial history, he said. The area contained dangerous friable asbestos which could easily become airborne, as well as bonded sheeting.

Residents were concerned about dust, and Mr Flanagan, who lives in nearby Lane Poole Place, said air monitoring should extend to residential areas. He questioned the plan to use a tarpaulin to cover the waste on site, given the requirement that it must be covered by 50 centimetres of soil as soon as it arrived at a dump site, and up to three metres of soil for the longer term.

Asbestos experts Robsons Environmental prepared an action plan in August, which said the asbestos dump covered almost half a hectare and could be up to three metres deep.

First, the area would be cleared of vegetation, and tested to check its extent and other contaminants. Depending what was found, the material would be removed, with another 30 centimetres of topsoil underneath also removed.

The action plan says dust should be carefully controlled, with water used to keep dust down, tarpaulins used to provide wind breaks and cover stock piles, no earthworks on dry and windy days, limited vehicle movements, and monitoring to ensure there was no visible dust. Areas should be revegetated as soon as possible to limit dust. if those methods didn't control dust, other options should be considered, including working during hours or on days were there was minimal wind or when residents and other works were not present, or tenting the work area.

Plastic sheeting should be used to cover visible asbestos. Air on site would be monitored for asbestos.

Asbestos fibres must be in sealed, heavy-duty, impermeable bags, clearly labelled as asbestos. Other asbestos waste must be in a covered leak-proof vehicle and wetted.

But Mr Flanagan said insufficient work had been done to discover the extent of contamination and whether removal was the best way to deal with it. Western Australia's guidelines for asbestos contaminated sites advised against the "dig and dump" approach for such a large site, he said.

"In the search for development dollars, the cart has been put before the horse, and community safety and the environment are likely to suffer," he said. "One would have hoped that more lessons would have been learnt following the Mr Fluffy experience."

Robsons said it was unclear when the area first became a dump, but in aerial photos it became apparent in the 1980s.

Mr Flanagan said the asbestos was believed to have come from a building work at the brickworks site itself and the friable asbestos from the inside of the big kiln doors, which were lined with the material.

At Wednesday's meeting at 7pm at Albert Hall, Robsons, government representatives and contractors Capezio will answer residents' questions.