During her speech at the Asbestos Awareness Day ceremony at the Morwell Rose Garden last Friday, GARDS secretary Vicki Hamilton called for a complete ban on asbestos.

She told the crowd, which included Victorian Premier John Brumby, union and energy industry representatives, that she didn't want to see anymore people die because of the dangerous substance.

``We need to eradicate asbestos from our little patch here, from Australia and even the world,'' Ms Hamilton said.

``I don't want to see our children and families suffer as a result of the past.''

During the October regional sitting of State Parliament in Churchill, Premier Brumby officially apologised on behalf of the Victorian Government to asbestos victims.

In his apology, which he also repeated at the ceremony, Mr Brumby expressed his regret for the pain and suffering felt by former State Electricity Commission Victoria (SECV) workers who had contracted an asbestos-related disease.

Ms Hamilton said Mr Brumby was a ``premier with a social conscience''.

``If you were to tell me eight years ago that we would have the premier here today to apologise to workers and families who were exposed to asbestos, I would have said you were nuts,'' Ms Hamilton said.

``Eight years down the track there is a lot more awareness and it's just wonderful to see the State Government actually starting to recognise a very big problem.

``I have been given assurances that they will work with us to try and start eradicating domestic asbestos out of our community.''

Newborough man Allan Walker was diagnosed with mesothelioma in 2007 after working with the SECV for 32 years.

He attended Parliament to listen to the apology and was in Morwell last Friday to take it all in again.

``We've heard the apology before and we heard the same words before, but they were just as sincere this time around,'' Mr Walker said.

``For everybody here today... I think to have that sort of apology delivered on behalf of the government was very important.''

Mr Brumby said he had decided to apologise after reading a story about a 40 year-old man who died of mesothelioma, not because he was exposed to it directly, but because his father brought it home on his work clothes.

``The apology was the right thing to do and a decent thing to do and we've done it and it means a lot to GARDS and to families,'' he said.

``It's a good thing to have done as Premier on behalf of the people of Victoria.''