Mr SHORTEN (Maribyrnong—Leader of the Opposition) (14:57): My question is to the Prime Minister. Australia has the highest per capita rate of asbestos disease in the world. Forty thousand Australians are expected to die from asbestos. There are reports that the Asbestos Safety and Eradication Agency is to be axed. Does the Prime Minister agree with Senator Cormann that this agency is 'window dressing' and that it is misused for PR purposes? And why does this Prime Minister go out of his way to make life hard for asbestos victims? Mr Pyne: Madam Speaker, I rise on a point of order. We put up with a lot of argument in the questions from the opposition, but I think that trying to drag asbestosis sufferers into that is really beneath the Leader of the Opposition. I would ask him to rephrase the question so that the argument is removed from the question. Mr SHORTEN: If it helps, I am happy to rephrase the question, Madam Speaker. The SPEAKER: Thank you, it would help. Mr SHORTEN: This is not an argument: Australia has the highest per capita incidence of asbestos in the world. It is not an argument that 40,000 people will die from asbestos. It is not an argument that finance minister Cormann has called the Asbestos Safety and Eradication Agency 'window-dressing' and misused for PR purposes. None of this is argument, Prime Minister. Prime Minister, why are you allowing the axing of the Asbestos Safety and Eradication Agency?