Articles

Seven Victorian removalists fined for paperwork they never filed. A $335,000 penalty for 2,830 tonnes of contaminated fill. A property owner fined $32,000 for pulling down warning signs. The 2026 enforcement record shows regulators catching operators by cross-matching databases, which makes the records gap the easiest offence to prove.

On 18 May 2026, Palmerston North property owner Sanal Lonappan was fined $32,000 for breaching a WorkSafe prohibition notice, failing to assist inspectors, and intentionally removing notices while continuing asbestos-affected refurbishment.

EPA Victoria fined seven asbestos removalists a combined $71,225 after an Illegal Waste Dumping Taskforce intelligence-share with WorkSafe found mandatory removal notices with no matching Waste Tracker records. Illegal dumping was not proven — the fines are for failing to track.

On 20 August 2026, WorkSafe New Zealand issued a safety alert after waterblasting on a 1970s decramastic roof spread chrysotile asbestos indoors and outdoors — with remediation required. High-pressure water and compressed air on ACM are already prohibited.

On 9 September 2026, EPA Victoria welcomed a Supreme Court order requiring Renex Op Co Pty Ltd to pay $340,000 into a restorative justice fund after asbestos-contaminated soil was twice sent to unauthorised sites — the first contested civil penalty under Victoria's Environment Protection Act 2017.

On 6 July 2026 the NSW Government released its Asbestos Plan of Action, backed by $16 million, including $9 million for a two-year trial giving households free asbestos waste pickup. It is the formal response to the Chief Scientist's review after the Rozelle mulch crisis, and it reaches further into the waste supply chain than most operators expect.

From 1 April 2026, New Zealand school boards must engage asbestos consultants, licensed removalists and laboratories from the Ministry of Education's accredited supplier list. Here is what it means for boards, and for the asbestos businesses that are not on the list.

For eight months the official AU/NZ advice was that asbestos in recalled craft sand was unlikely to become airborne unless the sand was crushed. An Auckland University of Technology study has now found fibres releasing at every level of play intensity, including gentle handling.

FAMANZ asked New Zealand's public sector five simple questions about its buildings and its asbestos management plans. Several of the country's largest agencies could not answer them. An Australian version of the review is already underway.

Australia banned asbestos outright at the end of 2003, but the NSW EPA's message has not softened: the material is still in roughly one in three homes, and it only becomes dangerous when someone disturbs it. Here is what that means for anyone managing or working on an older NSW property.

From 1 December 2026, Australia's workplace exposure standards become workplace exposure limits, with a revised national list. Asbestos's own limit is not changing, but the dust and silica numbers that matter to demolition and renovation work are. Here is the part of the change that affects asbestos-adjacent trades.

WorkSafe New Zealand has replaced its single 2016 asbestos code with a modular suite of guidance built for specific audiences, with the final stages published in April 2026. It brings real technical changes to surveys, clearances and air monitoring. Here is what changed and who it is for.