LEGAL ACTION: Former Labor MP Ernie Bridge was suing the State Government and companies owned by Australia's two richest woman over mesothelioma he contracted. Source: PerthNow
MINISTERIAL DAYS: Mr Bridge, a father of four, WA's first Aboriginal MP and the first indigenous Cabinet minister in any Australian government. Source: PerthNow
FORMER Labor MP Ernie Bridge has died, just weeks after launching a legal fight against the State Government and two of Australia's richest women after he was diagnosed with mesothelioma.
Mr Bridge, 76, was a State member for the Kimberley between 1980 and 2001.
He believed he was exposed to asbestos fibres and dust during visits to Wittenoom during his terms.
As a minister from 1986 to 1993, Mr Bridge oversaw the closure of Wittenoom's mines and government services.
At the time of his death, Mr Bridge was suing the Shire of Ashburton, CSR Limited, Midalco, Gina Rinehart's Hancock Prospecting and Angela Bennett's Wright Prospecting.
The former Labor MP lodged a writ in the WA Supreme Court seeking damages for contracting malignant mesothelioma, asbestosis, pleural disease and respiratory degeneration.
The father of four was WA's first Aboriginal MP and the first indigenous Cabinet minister in any Australian government.
Former Attorney General Jim McGinty, who worked for 10 years with Mr Bridge in Parliament, told ABC Radio this morning that his friend's passing was "very sad".
"He was a general all-round good bloke and loved by both sides of politics," Mr McGinty said.
"The Liberals, when he was a minister, wouldn't attack Ernie because they liked him and he would simply handle it in a very easy going, relaxed sort of way.
"I remember one occasion when he got out his guitar and sang a song in the Parliament to make a particular point about the speech he was giving at the time.
"You can't help but love people like that - he didn't have a mean bone in his body."
Mr McGinty said Mr Bridge was passionate about improving conditions in remote Indigenous communities, becoming the president of the Shire of Halls Creek aged 23.
"He then went on and did a number of tremendous things for Indigenous people in Western Australia, and he, I think very much a role model that's paved the way for others to step up.
"And it wasn't always easy for Ernie, he was a Royal Commissioner into what was really a dark episode in Western Australia's history and that was the treatment of Aboriginal people at Skull Creek by the police.
"I think that Royal Commission led to a significant change in the way in which policing of Aboriginal people was conducted across the length and breadth of the country."
Recently, Premier Colin Barnett expressed his distress at learning that Mr Bridge was unwell.
He told reporters: "He might be from the opposite side of politics but Ernie has a huge following around the state.''
Former WA premier Peter Dowding said recently Mr Bridge had visited asbestos-affected areas such as Point Samson, Roebourne and Wittenoom many times while he was an MP.
"Even the Point Samson school camp building had asbestos in it because it used to be used for storing the asbestos before it was shipped out,'' Mr Dowding told Fairfax Radio last month.
Lawyer Simon Millman, who was representing Mr Bridge, said prior to Mr Bridge's passing that his firm had run hundreds of cases for asbestos victims from the area.
The number of people filing for compensation showed no sign of dropping off, he said.
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