Removing a few sheets of fibro from a shed is asbestos removal. So is stripping 60 metres of lagged boiler inside a power station, decontaminating a smelter potroom, or taking 50,000 tonnes of asbestos contaminated soil off an industrial site and into a licensed cell. They are the same word and a different industry. The second kind needs a Class A friable licence, hundreds of people trained to work in negative pressure enclosures, hygienists and clearance monitoring, and plant that can dismantle the structure once the asbestos is gone.
This guide is for the people buying the second kind: asset owners, generators, miners, refiners, defence estate managers and tier 1 builders who need the biggest asbestos and hazardous materials removal companies in Australia on a tender list for a major project. We are Perfect Contracting, we wrote it and we are on it. We have put ourselves first and described every company, including ours, from facts you can check. The rest are in alphabetical order, from their own websites and public reporting as at October 2026. Licences and insurances should be verified with the state regulator and the insurer before anyone is engaged, us included.
The biggest friable asbestos and hazardous materials contractors in Australia
Perfect Contracting
Perfect Contracting was founded in Sydney in 2010 and runs offices in Marrickville and at Slacks Creek in Queensland. It is part of Perfect Group with Perfect Concrete Care, Perfect Remediation, Perfect Strip Out, Perfect Hire and DeconCut. Friable asbestos and hazardous materials removal is a core line rather than an add-on: the company holds SafeWork NSW Friable Asbestos Removal Licence AD212957, covering Class A and Class B work, which Workplace Health and Safety Queensland recognises for licensed asbestos removal in Queensland, plus SafeWork NSW demolition licence AD211896 and Queensland demolition licence 2329458. Quality, environment and safety run under one integrated management system certified to ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and ISO 45001. The group worked more than 100,000 hours last financial year with no regulator notices.
Friable and hazmat work spans defence, energy, industry and remote sites: friable asbestos slab removal at Garden Island, friable asbestos removal at RAAF Base Richmond, demolition and hazmat removal at Holsworthy Barracks, around 100 tonnes of asbestos across the three defence sites, a demolition package at Munmorah Power Station for Downer, large friable asbestos decontamination at Horsley Park, where the company removed around 5,000 tonnes of asbestos, friable asbestos decontamination and demolition in Darwin and lead paint and asbestos removal at a warehouse in Wodonga.
What sets the company apart on a big hazmat job is that it does the whole scope with its own people and plant. The same crews that strip the asbestos then demolish the structure, using an owned Volvo EC480 high reach excavator, built up to about 75 tonnes, and Brokk remote controlled demolition machines, so a contaminated boiler house or plant room can be broken out by remote control rather than by hand. The company keeps a pool of around 100 people available for deployment at any time, and crews from Sydney and Brisbane travel together to regional and remote sites across Australia for hazardous materials removal, emergency make-safe and industrial decommissioning. See friable asbestos removal across Australia.
Delta Group
Delta Group was established in Victoria in 1988 and is headquartered in Port Melbourne, with offices in Sydney, Brisbane, Canberra, Adelaide, Perth and Darwin and regional branches including the Hunter Valley and Latrobe Valley. It reports more than 1,300 personnel, states that it holds Class A and unrestricted asbestos licences, and is certified to ISO 9001, 14001 and 45001. Its asbestos record is the largest published in the country: Hazelwood Power Station and Mine for ENGIE, with around 62,000 cubic metres of asbestos waste over three years; the old Morwell Power Station; the Kurri Kurri aluminium smelter for Hydro, including asbestos contaminated soil; the Liddell Power Station demolition for AGL; and the Woodsreef asbestos mine containment cell for the NSW Government. Source: Delta Group, Hazelwood.
DEMEX
DEMEX has operated since 1993 from Yatala in Queensland and publishes licences in more states than most: Queensland Class A asbestos licence 2321934, a Victorian Class A licence, Queensland demolition licence 2321795, NSW unrestricted demolition licence AD213349 and demolition licences in Western Australia, the ACT and South Australia. It is certified to ISO 9001, 14001 and 45001. Its largest hazmat job is Tranche 1 of the Mulwala explosives facility for Thales, 43 buildings and around 990 tonnes of asbestos waste, which won a World Demolition Award. Other work includes Callide Power Station, the Lithgow Small Arms Factory and houses at Gove in the Northern Territory. It has used a Brokk 200 demolition robot on industrial stacks. Source: DEMEX.
Enviropacific
Enviropacific is a remediation contractor founded in 2001 with its registered office at Macquarie Park in Sydney and operating sites in Newcastle, Melbourne, Perth and Darwin. It is listed as a Class A asbestos removalist on the WorkSafe Victoria directory and is certified to ISO 9001, 14001, 45001 and 27001. Its published work is weighted to contaminated land and hazardous waste treatment, including the Fitzroy Gasworks and its hazardous waste facility at Altona; named friable industrial asbestos projects are not published. Source: ICN supplier profile.
Focus Demolition and Asbestos Removal
Focus is a Western Australian company based at Bibra Lake, established in 2008 and working across Perth and the South West. It publishes a WA Class 1 unrestricted demolition licence (WAD 223) and a WA Class A unrestricted asbestos licence (WUA 165), and ISO 14001 certification. Industrial work includes tank demolition on a live Synergy site at Kwinana, decommissioning of the Carnarvon and Broome power stations, a 10 megalitre tank at the Worsley alumina refinery and mine decommissioning for Northern Star. Source: Focus Demolition.
Liberty Industrial
Liberty Industrial was founded in 2009 and is based at Glebe in Sydney with offices in Brisbane and Perth and a workshop at Somersby. It reports more than 350 employees, is listed as a Class A asbestos removalist on the WorkSafe Victoria directory, and is certified to ISO 9001, 14001 and 45001. It specialises in industrial decommissioning for energy, resources and oil and gas: Munmorah Power Station, where it reports 890 tonnes of bonded and friable asbestos removed under negative air enclosures up to 60 metres on the boilers; the Port Stanvac oil refinery in South Australia; the Gove refinery closure for Rio Tinto in the Northern Territory; Wallerawang Power Station; and 80,000 cubic metres of asbestos contaminated soil at Theodore in Brisbane. Source: Liberty Industrial, Munmorah.
McMahon Services
McMahon Services is headquartered in Adelaide, has operated in its current form since 1990 and reports more than 1,200 employees with offices across Australia and New Zealand. It describes itself as Australia's largest asbestos services provider, holds a South Australian Class A licence and is certified to ISO 9001, 14001, 45001 and 27001. Power station work includes Bell Bay in Tasmania, with around 3,150 tonnes of asbestos through the turbine hall and boiler house; Torrens Island A Station for AGL; the Northern and Playford stations at Port Augusta; and Kwinana Power Station in Western Australia, with 543 tonnes of asbestos waste and 3,300 cubic metres of asbestos soil. Source: McMahon Services, Bell Bay.
Two other names will come up. Ventia offers Class A and Class B removal as part of a broad facilities and infrastructure services business and publishes no named friable industrial projects; treat it as a head contractor and ask who will do the removal. Ausdecom, a Melbourne decommissioning contractor, describes asbestos campaigns inside its refinery and smelter demolitions but does not publish a Class A licence, so ask whether removal is self performed or subcontracted.
What to check before you engage a friable asbestos contractor for a major project
A Class A licence in the state where the job is, held by the contracting entity
Class A friable licences are issued state by state: SafeWork NSW, Workplace Health and Safety Queensland, WorkSafe Victoria, SafeWork SA, WorkSafe WA, NT WorkSafe and WorkSafe Tasmania. Some states recognise another state's licence; some do not. Ask for the licence that applies where your site is, check it on the regulator's register, and make sure it is held by the company signing the contract rather than a related entity or a subcontractor you have not met.
Named Class A supervisors and the people behind them
A licence is only as good as the supervisors on it and the trained removalists they lead. Ask how many Class A supervisors the company employs, who will be on your site, and how many removalists it can mobilise at peak. Power station and smelter jobs have needed 20 to more than 200 people on asbestos at once. A contractor that can bring crews from another state holds a program when the local pool runs out.
Owned demolition plant so the job does not stop when the asbestos is gone
On an industrial site the asbestos removal is the first half of the job; the structure still has to come down. Ask whether the contractor owns high reach excavators and remote controlled demolition machines, or whether a second company will arrive to do the demolition. Remote controlled machines matter in contaminated areas where you do not want people on the tools. Of the companies above, Perfect Contracting, Delta Group and DEMEX publish owning remote controlled machines; Perfect Contracting, Delta, DEMEX, Liberty and Focus publish owning high reach plant.
Enclosures, decontamination and hygiene
Friable removal at scale means negative pressure enclosures up to tens of metres high, decontamination units, HEPA filtration and an independent occupational hygienist with air monitoring and clearance certificates for every area. Ask who the hygienist is, how enclosures are tested, and how clearance is documented before demolition proceeds.
The rest of the hazmat survey
Asbestos is rarely alone. Lead paint, PCBs in capacitors and light fittings, synthetic mineral fibre, mercury in switches, refractory ceramic fibre, PFAS in fire systems and residues in tanks all need their own method and disposal path. Ask the contractor to take you through the whole survey and show how each material will be handled.
Waste tracking, containment cells and reporting
Thousands of tonnes of asbestos waste need a licensed receiving facility or an EPA approved on site containment cell, with consignment tracking end to end. Ask where the waste goes, who holds the EPA approvals, and what records you will receive for the asset's file.
Certification and regulator record
Ask for ISO 45001, 14001 and 9001 certificates with expiry dates, and for the number of improvement or prohibition notices from any regulator in the last financial year. Ask the same about any subcontractor they intend to use.
Talk to Perfect Contracting about a major hazardous materials project
We price friable asbestos, hazardous materials removal, decommissioning and demolition for major projects anywhere in Australia, with crews deployed from Sydney and Brisbane. See friable asbestos removal across Australia, lead paint and hazardous coatings removal, soil and site remediation and mine demolition, decommissioning and closure, or send us the job details and an estimator will call you back.
For demolition contractors on major projects, see the biggest demolition companies in Australia. For regional shortlists, see the biggest asbestos removal companies in Sydney, Brisbane and Queensland and Newcastle and the Hunter.
Frequently asked questions
Who are the biggest asbestos removal companies in Australia?
For major friable and hazardous materials work on industrial, energy, defence and mining sites, the established names are Perfect Contracting, Delta Group, DEMEX, Enviropacific, Focus Demolition and Asbestos Removal, Liberty Industrial and McMahon Services. Compare them on the Class A licence in your state, named supervisors, owned plant and a comparable project.
What is the difference between Class A and Class B asbestos removal?
Class B covers bonded, non-friable material such as cement sheet. Class A covers friable material that can be crumbled by hand, such as pipe lagging, sprayed insulation, gaskets and damaged board, and is what industrial, power and defence sites almost always need. Class A work needs a licensed supervisor on site, enclosures, decontamination units and independent air monitoring.
Can one contractor remove the asbestos and demolish the plant?
Yes, if it holds both the Class A asbestos licence and the demolition licence for the state and owns the demolition plant. That removes a handover between two companies, a second set of site rules and the gap in the program while the second contractor mobilises.
How is asbestos waste from a large industrial site disposed of?
Either to a licensed landfill that accepts asbestos, with consignment tracking, or into an EPA approved containment cell built on the site itself, which several power station and mine closures have used for very large volumes. The contractor should show you the approvals and the tracking records.
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