Graham Perrett (Moreton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Australians remember with sadness when multiple news stories surfaced of the devastating effects of silicosis—so many workers exposed to silica in their workplace handed a death sentence just for doing their job. All those labourers cutting, grinding, sanding and polishing engineered stone benchtops for so many kitchens—one household's bright and shiny pride and joy becoming another household's pain and misery. I was standing in my kitchen near my engineered stone benchtop when I heard about these otherwise fit and healthy workers struggling to breathe, facing the heavy, crushing burden of knowing there was no cure or treatment that would reverse the damage done to young lungs by simply breathing in silica dust. I know that in Queensland the industrial relations minister, Grace Grace, acted swiftly. Back in 2018, the day after some of those stories were aired, she issued a safety alert and then quickly put in place industry-wide safety measures, because this was a relatively unknown risk and it was in an industry that was not particularly well regulated or unionised, so there really was no health and safety watchdog there.

We know that today the rates of silicosis and other occupational respiratory diseases are unacceptably high in Australia. I stress that these are entirely preventable illnesses that, sadly, all too often lead to entirely preventable deaths. The Albanese Labor government is committed to tackling occupational respiratory diseases and is undertaking a suite of reforms to ensure that Australia's prevention and treatment measures are world-class. The Labor Party is always committed to protecting workers from unacceptable health risks. That's why the Labor Party was formed out of the labour movement. We're developing a national silicosis prevention strategy and national action plan in collaboration with health professionals, unions and industry. We'll be investing in educational campaigns for employers, workers and health professionals to improve prevention, detection and treatment; we will explore measures to limit the use of engineered stone, including an import ban; and we will be working with states and territories to ensure that we have a coordinated approach to keeping our workers safe.

The National Occupational Respiratory Disease Registry Bill 2023 delivers on the recommendation of the National Dust Disease Taskforce to establish a national occupational respiratory disease registry—and I do acknowledge the work of the coalition in that process. This follows an increase in silicosis in stonemasons working on engineered stone benchtops. The national registry will capture information relating to respiratory diseases believed to have been occupationally caused or exacerbated. We support the use of this information to understand the true scale of these diseases in Australia and to take action to reduce further exposure in the workplace.

Under this bill medical specialists in the fields of respiratory and sleep medicine and occupational and environmental medicine who diagnose certain occupational respiratory diseases will be required to notify the diagnosis, patient and exposure details to the national registry via an online portal. These physicians may also notify of other occupational respiratory diseases where that individual provides consent. This is consistent with the recommendation of the task force. Initially only silicosis will be a prescribed occupational respiratory disease; however, the Minister for Health and Aged Care will be able to prescribe other diseases following consultation with the Commonwealth Chief Medical Officer and each state or territory.

We understand the potential burden that this new notification system will have on physicians. We recognise this fact, and the bill limits the mandatory elements that must be notified to a minimum notification. That will include sufficient information to identify an individual with a diagnosed occupational respiratory disease. Once diagnosed, the details on the likely exposure that resulted in the disease, including the last and main exposure, will be included. Further, additional information can also be supplied where the individual provides consent. This may include relevant medical tests, demographic and lifestyle information—for example, including their smoking history and their employment status—as well as details of each job where the individual believes that they had an exposure to a respiratory-disease-causing agent.

In addition to ensuring notified information is available to the physicians treating the individual, the bill will enable the disclosure of notifications about an individual to that national registry. This will include to the prescribed Commonwealth state or territory authorities and health agencies and workplace health and safety agencies. This disclosure to all these agencies will increase the awareness of the prevalence of occupational respiratory diseases throughout Australia and will enable actions to be taken to reduce further worker exposure to these diseases—like a canary in the coalmine, so to speak.

This bill recognises several jurisdictions that already have these registry functions currently in operation. This bill does not exclude or limit the operation of those processes. Where notification is mandatory in a state already, the bill provides for notification to occur through the national registry, should the state allow it. This will remove duplication, so a physician won't have to notify twice, and you won't have the case of having to notify the national register and the state register. Obviously, sensible Commonwealth governments don't pick fights with states and territories. It's better that we work together for the health and safety of employees. The establishment of this national registry will complement actions across all Australian governments to reduce exposure in the workplace, and it demonstrates the Albanese government's commitment to keeping workers safe. The national registry will provide information to support workplace health and safety compliance actions and aid in understanding the disease within each area.

The introduction of this bill is intended to provide adequate time for states with existing registries, such as in Queensland, to consider potential amendments to their own legislation. The unions are very supportive of the introduction of a national registry and have already indicated a desire for it to be expanded. As I mentioned before, the minister will be looking at including other diseases to the register after consultation with experts and stakeholders. This bill creates mechanisms that can support the expansion of the registry. Peak medical bodies also support it. Understandably, they remain concerned about the potential burden of reporting on physicians. Personally, I still have some concerns about the privacy elements, but the minister has addressed many of those.

The bill outlines a minimum notification information approach limited to that necessary to meet the objectives of the national registry, while providing opportunity for physicians to notify further information with the patient's consent. I repeat: the patient would give that extra consent. We can't simply sit and do nothing as people keep suffering. Worse, there still may be workers out there being exposed to the dangers of silica dust, which could develop into severe respiratory problems and even an early death. This change is overdue, and the Albanese government is stepping up and doing something to protect Australian workers in their workplaces. I commend the legislation to the House.

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