Bernie Banton The Australian 28 November 2007
28 NOVEMBER 2007
John Stapleton
Bernie would be up in heaven, looking down at all the tributes and smiling, his widow Karen said yesterday.
The day after Bernie Banton's death his family gathered for the launch of the Bernie Banton Centre, a new Asbestos Diseases Research Institute on the campus of Concord Hospital in Sydney's north west. His four sons, Adam, 33, Brent, 30, Chris, 26 and Dean, 17, were all in attendance.
His grandson, nine-year-old Jack, formally turned the first clod on the site with a specially engraved shovel. He declared the occasion ``cool''.
Bernie would have wanted them all there, Karen Banton said. She said it would have been very difficult to leave his bedside for the launch of the centre if he had still been alive.
``God is in control, even the fact that it is Asbestos Awareness Week,'' she said. ``Having the centre named after him is very fitting. Yesterday was a very sad day. Now Bernie is up there smiling on it all. I am sure he is up there now revelling in all the tributes and having a good time.''
His tearful eldest son Adam said: ``I am so proud of dad, he was a champion, let alone the public, he was the best dad for us. He would have been proud today.''
Workers at the site formed a guard of honour for the family.
Karen Banton said the tribute from the incoming Prime Minister to Bernie on the night of the election ``was beautiful''.
``We did tell him there was a new Prime Minister,'' she said. ``He was very touched. The whole family was touched.''
She said the family wanted to thank everyone for their tributes, cards and messages; and went on to pay a special tribute to the nurses at Concord who had seen Bernie through some of his worst days.
``It has been really special,'' she said. ``It is an awful way to die. It is hard to describe how shocking it is. It is really a terrible, terrible way to die.''
His younger brother Bruce Banton said the family hoped the centre would help in the research for a cure to the disease that has killed so many people. He attacked James Hardie as being twisted in their approach. ``Not one of these people have stood by the bedside of someone who is suffering,'' he said.
NSW Premier Morris Iemma said the Bernie Banton Centre was a major advance in the battle to alleviate suffering and discover solutions for victims of asbestos related disease. ``With 350 people diagnosed in NSW each year, there are thousands of others who do not yet know that asbestos related disease will claim their lives,'' he said.
Internationally renowned asbestos diseases researcher Professor Nico van Zandwijk from the Netherlands has been appointed the Institute's inaugural director. He said the centre would allow research that was closely linked to patient care. ``We hope to pave the way for a better future, there is so much unmet need, it is my honour to be pushing this whole area of science forward,'' he said.
Professor van Zandwijk said at this point only a tiny minority of sufferers were ever cured. ``I would like to avoid false hope, but it is possible,'' he said.