Board of Directors
Bianca Neve – Chair
Bianca commenced her role as a Director of the Society in 2015 and was appointed Deputy Chair in 2018. During the last 4 years, she has demonstrated her commitment to the Society and their members through her passion and strong advocacy. Bianca is dedicated to lifting public awareness of the dangers of asbestos and in her capacity as a Director,
enjoys working with the society and key stakeholders to provide knowledge and support.
Bianca has been a strong advocate for community organisations, human rights and social justice issues since she began her career in 1998 at the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Community Legal Service in North Queensland. Since then, Bianca has remained working in the legal fraternity working alongside the union movement and with relevant industry working groups to help increase the awareness of the risks associated with asbestos exposure and more importantly to help to prevent it, including through her legal work at a number of significant Queensland Personal Injury firms.
Andrew Ramsay – Deputy Chair
Andrew has been a member since 2009. Andrew was elected Chair of ADSS from 2015 till October, 2018. He previously had held the positions of Vice President of ARDSSQ 2012 – 2015, and Chair of ARDSSQ Management Committee since 2014.
Andrew was the Work Health and Safety Co-ordinator for the CFMEU Qld and NT and had a passion for representing workers and preventing the community being exposed to asbestos containing materials.
Andrew is a carpenter by trade and was a union official for 27 years. Andrew has been very active with the Society since 2005, undertaking voluntary work to assist the Society often at short notice.
Phil Blair
Phil was a Carpenter with asbestos products during the eighties and nineties and now works with the CFMEU as an Asbestos Awareness Trainer. He is a qualified A & B Class removal and an A Class supervisor. He is passionate about eradicating asbestos in the building industry and stopping asbestos imported products coming into Australia.
Margot Hoyte
The work of ADSS is important to me on a personal level with a good friend dying from mesothelioma when he was only 43, leaving a wife and five children. Exposed as a 15-year-old in his first job, he died far too young.
I have training and assessment qualifications and work in the field of adult education and learning, delivering, writing and revising primarily work health and safety courses of training.
I have previously been a member of the Committee of Management for the Workers Occupational Health Centre in Melbourne, involved with the Victorian asbestos society, and as a past Health and Safety Officer in the union movement worked on the development and implementation of high level strategic asbestos related campaigns, including campaigns to increase approval of drugs on Pharmaceuticals Benefit Scheme, the James Hardie campaign, Asbestos regulation and enforcement, and the goal of an Asbestos Free Australia by 2030. Ringing members, helping at stalls and fund-raising activities are also some of my voluntary activities with ADSS.
Patricia Cini
Pat has been involved with the Asbestos Society as a volunteer for many years after her husband was diagnosed with Asbestosis of which he has since passed.
This included running the Southside Support Group, ringing members, giving them phone support and information as to the assistance that ADSS could give them. She has attended morning teas, seminars and Home Shows to inform the public of the dangers of asbestos. Pat has been on the Committee of ADSS for many years and a Director for two years.
Garry Rogers
Garry has always been vocal about the dangers of asbestos and is motivated to remove all produced asbestos material from our society to reduce the risk of future generations of children and grandchildren being exposed.
Recently Garry was involved in a campaign highlighting the asbestos in the Telstra pits and pipe, not only to the NBN and Telstra workers but to members of the public.
Garry has represented his union (Electrical Trade Union) at a number of different asbestos conferences and has been nominated as the Queensland asbestos officer which calls upon him to advise, consult and negotiate a lot of different initiatives about identifying asbestos and its removal from workplaces.
Ross Davidson
Karen Selmon