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After 20 years as a stonemason, Ken Parker wishes he\u2019d chosen a different job.<\/p>\n
At 48, his lungs are so ragged that he can\u2019t even mow his lawn without becoming puffed. He\u2019s now hoping for a lung transplant.<\/p>\n
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Ken Parker says he\u2019s suffering more than ever with silicosis and finds it hard to breathe.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>Rhett Wyman<\/cite><\/p>\n \u201cAnd I\u2019ve discovered now that after a decent-sized meal, I find it hard to breathe,\u201d Parker said from his home in Barry, in NSW\u2019s central west.<\/p>\n In February, a photograph of Parker hooked up to a tangle of tubes and wires at St Vincent\u2019s Hospital made him the face of the silicosis scourge affecting Australia\u2019s tradies.<\/p>\n Ten months later, he was asked how he\u2019d been faring since that photograph featured in a report by this masthead on February 19 exposing the failure of regulators to protect stonemasons exposed to dust particles when cutting and shaping engineered stone slabs.<\/p>\n \u201cGoing reasonably well, getting slowly worse,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n The picture of Parker in February having his lung capacity tested at St Vincent\u2019s Hospital.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>Steven Siewert<\/cite><\/p>\n Reflecting on his experience since speaking out, Parker welcomed the attention it gave to the toll on those working with the product commonly used in kitchens and bathrooms.<\/p>\n \u201cSomeone definitely had to do it,\u201d he said. \u201c[The diagnosis]makes everything a lot more immediate \u2026 I think you live a lot more for today than you do for tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n A majority of federal, state and territory workplace health and safety ministers agreed on Wednesday to a national prohibition on engineered stone from July 2024.<\/p>\n But Parker expressed frustration at the lack of urgency in the months since Workplace Relations Minister Tony Burke entreated ministers\u2019 in February to accelerate consideration of a ban.<\/p>\n \u201cI think it should be immediate, personally. I see no reason to prolong it. They\u2019ve had enough time to know what\u2019s coming. I think it should just happen and be done,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n At Parliament House on Wednesday, hours before the agreement was struck, former stonemason Kyle Goodwin asked why it had taken so long for the meeting to happen.<\/p>\n \u201cI was diagnosed five years ago, and people were diagnosed before me,\u201d he said. \u201cIt should have happened months, if not years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n Goodwin, who was given between five and eight years to live at the time of his diagnosis, said it was only recently that the country faced a similar crisis relating to asbestosis, and this was \u201cjust another example of a preventable industrial disease\u201d.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n