Brianna Heseltine, founder of the Fluffy Owners and Residents’ Action Group.

It is a simple truth that what makes a home is more than just a house.

It is safety, a sense of peace, being surrounded by the familiar with family and friends, a place to dream, create, and celebrate as well as a refuge to regenerate from the outside world. It is defined as a place where ‘one can be at ease.’

Perhaps that is what homeowners in the 1960’s and 1970’s were searching for when they sought respite from the cold Canberra winter and had Mr Fluffy provide the loose insulation that would make the warm difference.

Maybe, like many a modern renovator, they walked the hallway of their home on a crisp Canberra morning or stopped by a mates desk at work or at the checkout; musing how better their home was now. It would never have occurred to them that their home improvement dream would become a living nightmare more than half a century later for over 500 Canberra and Queanbeyan residents in 70 suburbs.

Like so many practices with unknown consequences back then, they weren’t to know that Mr Fluffy insulation posed a serious health risk. Today the Mr Fluffy houses are threatening the sense of home. It is taking a physical, emotional and financial toll on the families and homeowners who are now living with the legacy of that loose asbestos insulation.

Some have been trying to resolve it for years, when the first round of remediation was undertaken in the late 1980’s; others have recently bought a house with dreams of renovation only to be informed by their builder that their house holds a secret.

It is an anxiety becoming too commonplace within communities across Australia. Canberra has joined the communities grappling with a reality born of past mistakes, poor decisions and practices with unknown consequences.

In this past week residents of Clovelly Park, an Adelaide suburb, were evacuated from their well established homes as further tests were undertaken on the ground soil which once supported a factory; Cairnlea residents in Melbourne have been grappling with a similar legacy as their relatively new homes reside on a former explosive factory site; and in Sydney the industrial legacy from a time when environmental protections were non existent continues to concern residents in suburbs like Pagewood.

Many Australians are now navigating the labyrinth of blame, politics, drawn out battles and uncertainty that affects the very place within which we should feel at peace.

For many it is as if they have lost their homes to flood or fire.

Cue Canberra’s answer to Erin Brockovich, Brianna Heseltine who founded the Mr Fluffy Owners and Resident Action Group.

Mother of two boys, Brianna is a 39 year old public servant who found out in April this year that her home was affected by Mr Fluffy insulation. Within seven days, her family, including her seven-week-old baby was living with friends as their house underwent tests and a month later she had started the group.

“I have formed this Group because I find it unacceptable that this is a live issue almost half a century after Mr Fluffy began his operations,” said the articulate, strong and organised advocate.

She is right to do so. It is unacceptable to people not to feel ‘at ease’ in their own homes.

And what Brianna did next was to hold community meetings, meet with politicians as well as the ACT Government to seek a more effective resolution and remediation than the attempt by the Commonwealth in the 1980’s.

It didn’t take long for the right advocate to make an impact – by June the Asbestos Response Taskforce had been established by the ACT Government, and in early July an assistance package was on offer to households impacted.

It would be easy to brand this as a well-orchestrated grassroots campaign, but it tells us something important about the women of Canberra, what they stand for and the mark they make. Brianna experienced an issue with latent will to resolve it and used her smarts, guts and determination to get people to focus and bring about much needed action.

Our Chief Minister, Katy Gallagher and Member for Canberra Gai Brodtmann delivered a response that is compassionate, flexible and practical for a very complex issue affecting people in many different ways.

For these kinds of issues – that bring anxiety literally right through the front door of our communities – they are anything but fluffy and need articulate, compassionate and clever leaders to right the wrongs and get things done in a way that respects people and strengthens our community.

It is just the kind of job for strong women. And aren’t we lucky we have so many here in Canberra?

You can nominate Brianna Heseltine for a Pride of Australia award here.