Exhibit 99.1

31 October 2005

		James Hardie Industries N.V.
		ARBN 097 829 895
		Incorporated in The Netherlands
		The liability of members is limited
The Manager
Company Announcements Office		Atrium, 8th Floor
Australian Stock Exchange Limited		Strawinskylaan 3077
20 Bridge Street		1077 ZX Amsterdam,
SYDNEY NSW 2000		The Netherlands
		Telephone: 31-20-301 2980
		Fax: 31-20-404 2544

Dear Sir

Cancellation of Options

The Company has cancelled 1,950,000 options granted under the 2002 Peter Macdonald Option Plan because the performance hurdle was not met.

Details of unquoted options following the cancellation are set out in the table below.

The Company’s issued share capital of 462,101,613 shares/CUFS remains unchanged.

Table of James Hardie Industries N.V. options:

2001 Equity Incentive Plan		Options				Exercise Price A$				Expiry date if not exercised
			309,339				3.1321			1 Nov 2009
			957,972				3.0921			1 Nov 2010
			1,532,217				5.0586			17 Dec 2011
			2,308,300				6.4490			3 Dec 2012
			4,128,470				7.0500			5 Dec 2013
			4,912,600				5.9900			14 Dec 2014
			273,000				6.0300			28 Feb 2015
Total Options			14,421,898

Each option confers the right to subscribe for one ordinary share/CUFS in the capital of James Hardie Industries N.V. at the exercise price shown in the table subject to the terms of issue.

Yours faithfully

Benjamin Butterfield
Company Secretary