Government and unions interfere with big business. And a good thing, too.

So, James Hardie has agreed to pay up & properly fund compensation for people harmed by its asbestos products. JH's description of it as a 'voluntary compensation offer' is stretching it a bit, considering how much pressure state governments and unions had to apply, but at least they got there in the end... and hopefully, other companies will get the message that corporate responsibility still means something in this country.

(For those unfamiliar with the case: JH set up a foundation to pay compensation, used a wildly optimistic report as grounds to give it around a fifth of the funding it actually needed, and then attempted to wash their hands of any further responsibility to the victims when the money ran out 40 years early. This seems to have been legitimate under the letter of the law; fortunately, there are other ways to persuade companies of the error of their ways.)

Chalk up one for the ACTU & Greg Combet, Bob Carr, and all the others who fought this.