The tributes are flowing for asbestos campaigner Bernie Banton who has lost his battle with cancer.

Bernie's lawyer Tanya Segelor says he was a true fighter, & a great believer in justice.

"My first impression of Bernie was someone who'd listen very nicely to your advice & then turned around & said, 'No, well, that's not good enough, this is what's going to happen.'

'And that was pretty typical of Bernie. He wouldn't take no for an answer. If you said to him well that's the law, he said, 'Well you better change that.'

Ms Segelov said she believes Bernie held on to see his compensation claim settled & also to vote at last weekend's election & see a change of government.

Speaking to Sky News, Ken Fowlie, described Bernie as a tremendous fellow.

'I'll miss him terribly... There's something about Bernie... Everyone really connected with him, during the whole campaign, he spoke from the heart.'

Mr Fowlie also attributes their legal success to Mr Banton, 'without Bernie we wouldn't have achieved the outcome we achieved.'

Meanwhile, NSW Premier Morris Iemma's praised Mr Banton's tireless efforts to campaign for the rights of asbestos victims.

'He was suffering himself, but he was fighting for others so at a time when he should've been thinking of his own health, he was worrying about others. He struck me as a man of enormous courage.'

Former NSW Premier Bob Carr echoed Mr Iemma's sentiments.

'All that's said about him by way of tribute's absolutely correct. He was a fighter, he thought of others & while battling his own huge health problems, he stepped forward to see that justice was done to everyone, not just himself.'

Prime Minister elect Kevin Rudd's passed his sympathies to Bernie's wife Karen & says Australia's poorer for having lost him.

"Our whole nation will be poorer for Bernie's passing, because he became a symbol, a living symbol of what's right & decent & proper in the workplace relations of this country, including industrial safety. We'll miss him. I'll miss him, the nation will miss him."

President of the Asbestos Diseases Foundation of Australia, Barry Robson, says Bernie leaves behind a proud legacy.

"People should just remember that Bernie, being the face of our campaign, showed the Australian public an insight into what an asbestos victim & their families go through when they go to get their compensation - & also all the ongoing medical problems, that'll be Bernie's lasting legacy.

Former ACTU President Greg Combet's remembered him as a champ for the victims of asbestos & says that despite his many personal struggles, he had a good sense of humour.

'He was a wonderfully gregarious person. He was always cracking jokes & brought a great sense of humour to pretty tense & stressful situations when we were campaigning against James Hardie. That was his natural disposition - a happy & really decent person. But having said that he also had a good deal of anger in him, about what companies like James Hardie had done.'

A memorial service was held in Melbourne today for the victims of asbestos releated disease.

Speakers paid tribute to Bernie Banton calling him a fighter.

CFMEU Victoria secretary Martin Kingham said 'Bernie was a fighter, he fought all of his life & when he fell ill, he didn't stop.'

Candles were lit & flowers laid for Banton & every other asbestos victim who has died.

Bernie's family's requested people donate to asbestos research than sending flowers to the funeral or their home.

-Australian News Channel Pty Ltd