I am pleased to advise members that earlier today Secretary Max Adlam, President Ben Whitlock and I joined Deputy Premier Kyam Maher and Minister Rhiannon Pearce to announce that a Bill to extend the number of cancers presumptively covered under workers compensation legislation for Firefighters passed the South Australian Parliament with unanimous support.
The new laws extend protection for the following cancers in addition to the already covered 12 cancers (subject to the relevant qualifying periods of service):
- Primary site cervical cancer
- Primary site uterine cancer
- Primary site ovarian cancer
- Primary site penile cancer
- Primary site thyroid cancer
- Primary site liver cancer
- Malignant mesothelioma
- A reduction in the qualification period for primary site oesophageal cancer from 25 years to 15 years.
In addition, the Malinauskas Government has announced that if re-elected they will progress legislation within their first 100 days to extend coverage to a further four cancers, being:
- Primary site pancreatic cancer
- Primary site skin cancer
- Primary site lung cancer
- Asbestos-related disease
We are confident that this commitment will also be supported by all other parliamentary parties and independents following the election, and we are grateful to all Members of Parliament for supporting today’s bill.
This legislative reform is critical to ensure that Firefighters who suffer from these insidious diseases are protected. Our union has been fighting for these additional recognitions for many years, and today’s successful passage of the Bill and further announcement is a win for all of the members, families, and supproters who have campaigned over that time.
We do not get to choose whether or not Firefighters suffer from cancers: unfortunately the science is clear that Firefighters are significantly more likely to suffer than the general population as a result of the critical but inherently dangerous work that you do, and current PPE can only do so much. What our Government does get to choose is how it approaches the moral duty that it has to Firefighters who suffer. Today’s developments do not cure all problems with our workers compensation system, but are a step towards ensuring Firefighters who suffer from work related cancers are supported and treated with dignity and respect. That is always the right choice.
We continue to encourage any current or former Firefighters who are suffering from cancers that they believe are work related to get advice on potential entitlements. The absence of a presumptive provision does not mean that a claim cannot be successfully made. Our office team will always make time to speak with members who are impacted.
Of course, prevention and early detection are preferable to compensation. This is why the health monitoring program that forms part of the current enterprise agreement offer is so important. If the offer is accepted by members, and this program introduced, we strongly encourage all members to make sure that they participate in the program, which will be voluntary and confidential. Proper testing can save lives.
Enterprise Agreement progress:
We continue to thank members for their patience, and for the feedback that we have received around the Government’s letter of offer.
We are intensively working with Government on an agreement that can be presented to you. Unfortunately errors in documents presented by Government negotiators have meant that we do not yet have a complete document capable of being presented to you.
Ongoing negotiations during the week have resulted in the Government agreeing to increase the average number of public holidays it was accounting for (having regard to the public holidays that do not occur every year, or are part day). Although these are sometimes small things, they all add up to the final result and are worth insisting upon.
We are grateful for most members understanding that we do not control how the media chooses to report things that are said to them: it is regrettable that some reporting described the otucome of negotiations without reference to the $3000.00 raise to base salaries, or other increases to take home pay that will occur, resulting in rises significantly above what was reported.
We were very clear in our comments that the decision on whether an enterprise agreement offer is accepted or not lies only with our membership, and we look forward to you being able to decide with all of the information in front of you. We will continue to do what we can to speed that along while protecting your best interests.
Union T-shirts and Flags:
Although a previous wordback lifted all bans as a show of good faith, to be clear our dispute is not resolved until our members accept an Agreement by vote.
Accordingly, members are still encouraged to wear their union t-shirts, and to display union flags as a show of our ongoing unity and strength.
In Solidarity,
