Helen Hagemann

ight on cue, I was part-way through reading a novel about asbestos removal when an asbestos panic erupted in New South Wales. Helen Hagemann's novel is set in WA, but it's in Sydney that playgrounds, parks and schools in Sydney have been closed, a Mardi Gras party has been cancelled, and hundreds of sites have to be inspected. The culprit appears to be contaminated mulch, which is used widely in all sorts of places, causing widespread alarm because there is no safe level of exposure to asbestos.
Synchronicity, eh?
Upfront, I'll say that I would not have continued reading this novel if it had been promoting some sort of conspiracy theory nonsense that denied the dangers of asbestos. But no, The Last Asbestos Town is more about the kind of bureaucratic heavy-handedness over which governments sometimes preside. Sometimes this happens because it's cheaper and easier to deliver a one-size-fits-all solution and there's not enough staff to fix the problems that don't fit into the program, and sometimes it's because in the haste to do something and be seen to be doing it, a program is put into place without the proper checks and balances . Whatever, sometimes it's just too bad for some unlucky people who are either drafted into somewhere they don't belong, or, conversely, who are excluded from something that they really need. Whatever side of politics we're on, we can all think of examples that exemplify an unresponsive bureaucracy that's not getting it right for everyone.
(And, to be fair, we can also think of government programs that are very good indeed, and that help the people they're supposed to help. Truth be told, that happens because there's an effective, competent bureaucracy.)
Set in a recognisable future in a town that features a street with a notorious name in the history of asbestos in Australia, The Last Asbestos Town features a young couple who are convinced that the property they've bought is built with a product that looks asbestos, but isn't. The thing is, asbestos can't be identified just by looking at it. A sample has to be analysed.
And in the meantime, the task force is on its way and might well slap a demolition order on the property before their sample comes back from the laboratory.


#Digression If you want to give yourself nightmares, check out the NSW 'How do I know if it's asbestos' page and click through from the Asbestos Checker to see what might be in your home if it was built before 1990. A bit of garden mulch might be the least of your worries... it cost us a small fortune to have an asbestos roof removed from our 1950s garage.


With demolition imminent, Hagemann's twenty-something characters are facing challenges on all fronts, including the supernatural. Their marriage is rocky, partly because of Isaac's drug habit (and the 'associates' who supply him), and partly because they're both snooping on each other, keeping secrets from each other, and manipulating each other:

‘Come and lie down with me for a second.’ May knew very well that to get any information from him about his experience with Cheryl at this point would be useless, unless she spent some quality time with him. They lay side by side, kissing and hugging. (pp. 117-118).

To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2024/02/18/the-last-asbestos-town-2020-by-helen-hageman...

… (mais)

In Australia until recently, corruption was most often perceived as a problem in other countries, especially developing nations where it is not uncommon to have to supplement the official price in order to get things done. But in 2021 Australia's worst-ever score on the Corruption Perception Index (CPI) at Transparency International highlighted the need for the Integrity Commission that was promised in the last federal election and never delivered. It is galling to read that :

While Australia’s score has been sliding down for a decade, countries in our region, such as Papua New Guinea, have been trending up. New Zealand again comes in at equal first. (Australia's Worst-ever Corruption Score Points to Urgent Need for National Integrity Commission, Transparency International Australia, 25th January 2022)

If interested, you can watch this short video to see how the score is calculated, but in a nutshell, it uses surveys to uncover the incidence of bribery, the diversion of public funds, and the adequate prosecution of corruption cases, and also to identify access to adequate legal frameworks, access to information, and legal protection for whistle-blowers, journalists and investigators. It does not cover tax fraud, money laundering, financial secrecy or illicit flows of money, so the score may not reflect the real incidence of corruption. In other words, it could be even worse.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9JoNjIfbPV0

My guess is that the CPI would not uncover the kind of corruption explored in Helen Hagemann's novel, The Ozone Café which explores local government corruption and its effect on a small business. The corruption involves a café on the beachfront in fictional Satara Bay. The novel is structured chronologically, with three owners all of whom fall foul of local government corruption without really knowing that it was happening.

To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2022/04/01/the-ozone-cafe-by-helen-hagemann/… (mais)