The asbestos scare at Telstra sites being prepared for the National Broadband Network (NBN) has spread to Queensland, with the State Government saying asbestos-handling breaches have been identified at three locations.

There have already been five potential cases of exposure of the deadly material in New South Wales, Western Australia, South Australia and a complaint about a potential safety breach in Tasmania.

Meanwhile, authorities are investigating the discovery of asbestos at four sites at Ballarat in central Victoria, and the ABC has also located a fifth site.

The sites in Ballarat are near a primary school, a suburban street and several businesses.

Key points: Telstra is modernising and repairing thousands of telco pits as part of its NBN deal to prepare for fibre optic cable rollouts

Telstra is modernising and repairing thousands of telco pits as part of its NBN deal to prepare for fibre optic cable rollouts Some old pits contain asbestos

Some old pits contain asbestos Several sites in NSW, Vic and WA have already been shut down due to disturbed asbestos and safety fears

Several sites in NSW, Vic and WA have already been shut down due to disturbed asbestos and safety fears Three new sites involving asbestos handling breaches have now been identified in Queensland

So far Telstra has only confirmed asbestos has been potentially exposed at three sites in Penrith, in western Sydney, as Telstra contractors rolled out fibre optic cables for the NBN through old telecommunications pits.

Workplace Health and Safety officers say the breaches in Queensland were at the Brisbane suburbs of Banyo and Carseldine and in the northern city of Mackay over the past three months.

State Attorney-General Jarrod Bleijie says the revelations are "extremely disturbing".

"At Carseldine, high-pressure water was used to clean a telecommunications pit containing asbestos. Debris was observed on the faces and clothes of two workers," he said in a statement.

"In the other instances, asbestos-contaminated dust was left uncontained for five days in Mackay and incorrect safety equipment was used at Banyo."

The contractors involved have been issued with prohibition and improvement notices, but Mr Bleijie says that is not good enough.

A cut pipe - which residents say contains asbestos - is exposed in a Telstra pit on the corner of Victoria and Carlyle streets in Mackay last month. ( Audience submitted: Mark Imber )

"With an infrastructure program as big as the NBN, a strong, national workplace safety plan should have been in place right from the start," he said.

"I have written to the Workplace Relations Minister Bill Shorten seeking urgent assurances about the safety of Queenslanders living near telecommunication pits and information on procedures that have been put in place to protect workers who may potentially deal with asbestos.

"As a state regulator we will provide whatever assistance we can to improve contractor management of asbestos in Queensland but the Federal Government has an obligation to ensure appropriate safeguards are in place for its own projects."

Communications Minister Stephen Conroy says the Commonwealth had not heard about potential exposure in Queensland until the State Government sent out a media release.

"We'll be looking into those to see whether or not they're Telstra remediation pits or NBN Co work towards installing, but at this stage we have no other information than what you've seen publicly," he said.

Telstra vows 'zero tolerance' on safety breaches

Earlier today, Mr Shorten held emergency talks with Telstra, unions and victims groups in Canberra.

He has praised Telstra's commitment to improve the situation but says he is not happy that the company cannot identify exactly how many sites may be involved.

"Telstra can't tell us absolutely the answer," Mr Shorten said.

"But there's 8 million pits. The numbers range, they tell us - between 10 and 20 per cent of these pits may have asbestos containing materials in them.

"Obviously not all of them are to be used in the NBN rollout process."

Telstra chief executive David Thodey says the company will be talking to contractors about how the issue has been handled.

Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume. Listen Duration: 4 minutes 34 seconds 4 m 34 s Telstra vows to improve asbestos safety ( Susan McDonald ) Download 2.1 MB

"There is zero tolerance; zero tolerance for all of us," he said.

"This is a very serious issue and we need to make sure everyone's on the same page."

Mr Thodey says Telstra usually does "random testing" on pits because "that is the practical way to do it".

"Over the NBN project we've got literally hundreds of thousands of pits to remediate," he said.

"But we usually do spot checking in terms of the order because you can't test every pit."

Gillard, Abbott exchange barbs during Question Time

The issue dominated Question Time, with the Coalition attempting to pressure the Government over the issue.

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott began by asking Prime Minister Julia Gillard whether $50 million spent on advertising the NBN "could have been better spent ensuring that communities ... were protected from exposure to asbestos".

Ms Gillard accused him of playing politics and said it was "disgraceful".

Sorry, this video has expired Gillard accuses Abbott of playing politics with asbestos

"As he well knows this is a matter involving pits and ducts and those pits and ducts are the responsibility of Telstra," she said.

"The Leader of the Opposition well knows that, but has chosen to play politics with this important matter nevertheless.

"I suppose we really shouldn't be surprised given this is the man who insulted Bernie Banton on his death bed - we shouldn't be surprised at all."

In the 2007 election campaign, Mr Abbott was forced to apologise to asbestos activist and mesothelioma victim Mr Banton, after questioning his motives.

"Let's be up front about this, I know Bernie is very sick, but just because a person is sick doesn't necessarily mean that he is pure of heart in all things," Mr Abbott said at the time.

He later said Mr Banton had a "thoroughly admirable commitment" to the cause.

But the Opposition persisted with questions to Mr Shorten over whether he has paid enough attention to the issue, given Telstra and NBN Co had known asbestos could be a danger in the rollout since June 2011.

Mr Shorten said he wrote to Telstra in 2009 "to say that there were people reporting that there were problems with pits".

Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume. Listen Duration: 5 minutes 17 seconds 5 m Asbestos claims dominate question time ( Naomi Woodley ) Download 2.4 MB

"Telstra wrote back and said they had the matter under control," he added.

"We've seen in recent days and weeks that clearly they haven't."

Mr Shorten responded to further questioning from Opposition Communications spokesman Malcolm Turnbull about the letter, accusing the Coalition of making the issue a "political football".

"I met with a family whose 11-week-old child may have been exposed to asbestos," he said.

"This is a very serious matter. This is why I do not believe it is appropriate that we use the exposure of asbestos in a political way.

"It actually should be above politics."

Mr Shorten later responded to interjections from the Opposition benches by saying: "What is it about asbestos that you think is the need to pollute with your political palaver?"

The Government will work to set up a new asbestos register for those people concerned they may have been exposed to the deadly material.

A bill to set up a new asbestos agency passed the House of Representatives today.

The NBN is a $37.4 billion project which is expected to take 10 years to complete.

It will provide high-speed broadband access to all Australian homes and businesses via three technologies: optic fibre, fixed wireless and next-generation satellite.