Bernie Banton was a tireless campaigner for people suffering asbestos related conditions caused by working for the company James Hardie. I met him in 2007 a few months before he died of mesothelioma and gave him an inked portrait as a keepsake. He joked at the time that the shoes should have been high heels because the James Hardie boss was a woman.

After he died I redid the cartoon in colour as a tribute and it appeared in the Newcastle Herald. The family requested the new version and it was used as a feature at Bernie’s funeral.