Long-time asbestos campaigner, the late Bernie Banton was honoured today with the state's newest asbestos disease and research institute named after him.
In a ceremony at Concord Hospital attended by wife Karen, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, NSW Premier Nathan Rees, NSW Governor Marie Bashir and former Premier Bob Carr, Mr Banton was remembered for his courage and struggle to gain recognition and compensation for fellow sufferers of asbestos-related diseases like mesothelioma.
The rate of Australians dying from mesothelioma was increasing, and by 2020, there may be around 13,000 cases of the disease, Mr Rudd said.
"Next year, around 750 Australians will be diagnosed with asbestos-related diseases. These are bad figures," he said.
Mr Banton's widow, Karen, presented the institute with the spade used to turn the first sod.
She said she hoped the doctors and researchers would use it as a metaphor to start "digging" for a cure for the disease.
"What a momentous day, and certainly one that Bernie would be very proud of," she said.
See next week's Hills News for in-depth coverage.
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