A public health expert says figures show a new wave of asbestos-related diseases will affect up to 40,000 Australians in the next 15 years.

It is estimated that over 1 million Australian homes contain the deadly building material.

Professor Peter Howat from Curtin University in Western Australia says it takes 20 to 30 years after a person is exposed to asbestos for cancer-related diseases to manifest.

"The coming generation, particularly the next five, 10, 15 years, a substantially larger proportion of those people who had home renovations or been exposed to asbestos through home renovations will be the one's getting mesothelioma," he said.