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James Hardie, the name, like the company, is a lie. The real James Hardie died a long time ago and had almost no connection to the Australian asbestos empire that grew under his partner Andrew Reid. The Reid family amassed a huge fortune as its asbestos company expanded, killing in its wake thousands of unwitting workers and customers.
Today, Reid′s grandson John Reid is an honoured multi-millionaire, revered for his patronage and philanthropy. He chaired the company for 23 years, and oversaw a strategy that ignored the dangers of asbestos and silenced Australia′s largest asbestos union and government health authorities, concealing Australia′s largest peacetime disaster. Reid mentored his eventual successor, Meredith Hellicar, who defended Hardie′s move offshore until public campaigning by asbestos disease sufferers like Bernie Banton forced the company to adequately provide for its victims.
ABC journalist Matt Peacock rips the cloak of secrecy from one of the greatest corporate scandals in Australia′s history. His painstaking research, involving newly discovered documents and interviews with over a hundred former Hardie employees and other key figures, reveals in stark detail how the company subverted the institutions designed to protect ordinary citizens, and how a dedicated group of unionists, lawyers and activists finally exposed Hardie′s subterfuge.
Peacock first warned the public about the dangers of Hardie′s asbestos empire in an award-winning radio series in 1977. He has followed the tragic trail for more than 30 years: from the company′s factories where workers had asbestos ′snowball′ fights, to the mine where Aboriginal children played in the tailings, and into thousands of houses where Hardie′s asbestos now threatens home renovators, not just from their fibro walls and ceilings, but from the dust that still lurks under their carpets.
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Killer Company: James Hardie Exposed
James Hardie, the name, like the company, is a lie. The real James Hardie died a long time ago and had almost no connection to the Australian asbestos empire that grew under his partner Andrew Reid. The Reid family amassed a huge fortune as its asbestos company expanded, killing in...
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Cameron: Practically a Conservative
By Francis Elliott, James Hanning
In 2005, David (′Dave′) Cameron emerged as the first Tory leader in years to come across as a man of the people -- an ordinary bloke in a traditionally reviled political position. But spin-doctoring aside, not a great deal is known about his background, his...
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Spoiled Rotten
By Jay Cost
The Democratic Party has long presented itself as the party of the poor, the working class, the little guy. As Jay Cost's sweeping revisionist history reveals, nothing could be further from the truth. Why have the Democrats gone from being the people's party of reform to the party of...
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Screwed!
By Dick Morris, Eileen McGann
The bestselling authors return with a blistering exposé of how America is being ripped off by friends and enemies alike—with the help of our own ruling elites. Our jobs go to China. Foreign aid goes to our enemies. Pakistan uses our money to fund terrorists who attack us. Saudi Arabia, which our...
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