Human Resources: Australia and the Netherlands to meet to discuss asbestos compensation

The Australian government has issued a statement confirming that Australia and the Netherlands will hold a ministerial meeting on Thursday in The Hague, to discuss a proposed agreement that would help Australian victims of asbestos disease seek compensation from building products company James Hardie Industries.

James Hardie, has been under considerable fire ever since it relocated its headquarters from Sydney to the Netherlands in 2001 in an apparent effort to avoid law suits from former employees suffering often lethal asbestos-related diseases.

The James Hardie affair is a long and complex affair - one that would be easier to write if I didn't live in Australia.