It is a typical case of government regulation which goes from not enough to over the top. My brother in law was an engineer that worked for Hardie's during the asbestos production period and he fought for safety in the production areas. According to him the company was well aware of the health hazards but did little even for their own workers.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-02...-tricks-on-asbestos-compensation/9391708

My brother in law eventually left the company over the issue of safety because he could not bring about any changes in the established way of doing things.

When you consider the amount of asbestos still in the older cars and bikes circulating in Australia, not to mention older houses, sheds, factories and so on, it is ridiculous to insist that the relatively rare classic or vintage vehicle imported into Australia be asbestos free and certified as such. Surely the main thing is to insist that any suspect components be disposed of correctly (gaskets, lagging, friction material) and replaced with non asbestos items when necessary for ordinary maintenance.
Such rules could be applied to all vehicles that where manufactured while asbestos was in use and a compulsory warning sticker placed in an appropriate place. Such a rule could even extend to an asbestos logbook which certified which possible asbestos bearing components had been replaced.
I may be wrong but other than brake and clutch components, and head and exhaust gaskets, I think you would be hard put to find any vehicles that had asbestos in other areas. Gaskets would remain reasonably stable whilst in place and in many cases normal maintenance in the last 30 years would already have replaced brake and clutch components.

Peter

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