For Bill Lawler, every day counts.

The 80-year-old former security guard was last year diagnosed with mesothelioma — terminal cancer caused by exposure to asbestos fibres.

He likely came in contact with the deadly mineral almost three decades ago, while he was working as a security guard at Wollongong's Tallawarra Power Station.

Mr Lawler said when the power station shut down, asbestos was dumped into an open pit and that "it was just falling off the pipes".

He's been waiting for his compensation claim to proceed with state-run insurance provider icare.

But he was told he will have to wait almost another month before icare’s providers would agree to attend mediation despite his case being required to be heard in January.

He first filed his claim in September.

"The whole case is all ready to go to arbitration," Mr Lawler said.

"A lot of people haven't got this extra time and I want to know from the insurer, why is it necessary to make these people suffer?

"You'll find out that a lot of people, once diagnosed, only have six to nine months."

Icare has apologised for delays in processing workers' compensation claims, blaming its service providers on failing to reduce wait times on settlements.

Jonathan Walsh from Maurice Blackburn Lawyers, who is acting on behalf of Mr Lawler, said his company dealt with three similar mesothelioma cases late last year which were also delayed.

"These are very well-advanced cases, they've put their affidavit evidence on, we've got our expert evidence on and their solicitors have served their evidence in response," he said.

"So the case is very much ready to be mediated and hopefully settled but then this imposition of this month-long moratorium then delays everything substantially.

"Whilst four weeks to icare might not seem like a long time, for people like Bill one month or four weeks is a very long time because he's dealing with a terminal illness."

In a statement, an icare spokeswoman said the agency apologised for any delays or confusion caused by the service providers conducting work on its behalf.

"Icare does not have a policy to delay participation in mediations or delay settlements," she said.

"In all dust disease cases icare seeks to provide timely resolution of damages.

"Last year, icare identified some pre-mediation advice to stakeholders was not timely from some legal service providers and requested pre-mediation advice be provided as soon as possible ahead of mediation."

The state-run insurer has been besieged by controversy since a joint Four Corners investigation with The Age and Sydney Morning Herald found schemes in Victoria and NSW were facing significant financial troubles.

The reporting revealed icare was losing hundreds of millions of dollars and had systematically underpaid workers.

NSW Opposition spokesman for finance Daniel Mookhey said those battling asbestos-related diseases deserved "speedy justice".

"They shouldn't have to waste a single breath fighting a discredited bureaucracy," he said.

"The insurer should instead bend over backwards to ease a mesothelioma victim's suffering."

A spokesman for Treasurer Dominic Perrottet, whose office ordered an audit into icare last year, said the matters were "operational in nature" and the responsibility of the icare board and management.