Dan Repacholi (Hunter, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to contribute to the debate on the National Occupational Respiratory Disease Register Bill 2023. When someone goes to work, it's fair to expect them to go home at the end of every day, and it's fair to say that no worker should ever have to suffer from long-term health problems resulting from work that sometimes show up years after the work has been completed. But this is the case for many Australians who work with asbestos or were exposed to the harmful particles and who are now suffering from asbestosis. This is just one example of an occupational respiratory disease. Right now rates of these occupational and respiratory diseases are far too high in this country—unacceptably high. Nobody should go to work and contract such a disease, especially not when it is entirely preventable. Yet it still results in the death of people who were just doing their job.

Another occupational respiratory disease is silicosis. Not unlike asbestosis, silicosis is a long-term lung disease, caused by inhaling unsafe levels of silica dust and usually developing over a period of many years. People who work with materials like granite, slate and sandstone may inhale a fine dust that contains silica. These dust particles, once inhaled, can scar the lungs. This can make it difficult to breathe and in some cases means the patient will require oxygen to help them breathe. Having silicosis also increases the risk of other health problems, like tuberculosis, lung cancer and chronic bronchitis. It is a high price to pay for a day's work, and no-one should expect this to be the consequence of showing up to work to provide for their family.

More can be done to prevent these diseases. Workers can be spared from suffering the early death that comes from a disease such as silicosis. That is why our government is committed to tackling occupational respiratory disease and is undertaking a wide range of reforms to ensure that Australia is world class in our prevention and treatment measures and to make sure we are protecting workers from unacceptable health risks. Our work in this area has already started. We are talking to health professionals, unions and industry to develop a national silicosis prevention strategy and national action plan. It is in the interests of all these parties to make sure silicosis is prevented where possible. It will mean that unions and employers are looking out for workers. This will result in a healthier workforce, and medical professionals will have an eased workload, with fewer cases of this disease—which, sadly, are soaring right now in this country.

As with so many issues, education can play a major role in the solution. When it comes to preventing occupational respiratory disease, education is vital. This government understands this and is investing in educational campaigns for employers, workers and health professionals to improve detection and treatment. Employers need to know how they can make their workplaces safer for employees. Employees need to know how they can work in a way that is safe, and they need to understand the consequences if they are not making sure that they maintain safe work practices that prevent these diseases.

It's also important for all medical professionals to be aware of and alert to the existence and threat of occupational respiratory diseases so that these diseases can be detected early and receive the right treatment. We all know there are certain materials that increase the risk of producing the dust that contains silica and ultimately leads to workers contracting diseases like silicosis. One of these materials is engineered stone, which is often imported from overseas. We are exploring measures to limit the use of engineered stone, including an import ban, so that materials coming into our country and being used by our workers aren't leaving them with lifelong health complications.

But it's not the responsibility of the federal government to be the only soldier in the fight to prevent occupational respiratory disease. The states and territories also have an interest in responding to what has become an increasingly large issue. It is important that we work together so that we can achieve the best outcomes and develop an effective strategy and response. This is why we have been working with the states and territories to ensure we have a coordinated approach to keeping workers safe.

In recent years there has been an increase in cases of silicosis. This increase has been seen to be largely impacting those working as stonemasons and specifically those who have been working with engineered stone benchtops. This issue led to the recommendation of the National Dust Disease Taskforce to establish the National Occupational Respiratory Disease Registry, and that is exactly what this bill is seeking to deliver.

The national registry will play an important role in helping to prevent these diseases. It will capture the information relating to respiratory diseases which are believed to have been caused as a result of someone's occupation, or diseases which are made worse in particular lines of work. We know that this is a big issue in Australia, but before we can act to respond properly and effectively, we need to understand the real size of this issue. That is why the information that will be collected by the registry is so important. This information will be vital to understanding the true scale of these diseases in Australia and will make sure that we are able to take action to reduce further exposures in the workplace. If we can't see the issue and its real size, we can't properly respond. This registry established by this bill will help us to see the issues we are facing so that we are able to act, prevent disease and properly protect workers.

This bill also gives attention to the important role that medical professionals play in fighting these diseases. It will require medical specialists in the fields of respiratory and sleep medicine and occupational and environmental medicine who diagnose certain occupational respiratory disease to notify the diagnosis, patient and exposure details to the national registry via an online portal. This makes sense because it ensures that this registry is accurate and seeing the full picture of those being implicated by this issue. These medical professionals are also able to notify the registry of other occupational respiratory diseases where the individual provides consent.

While there are many respiratory diseases that can arise from a wide range of occupations, all of which present big risks to people's lives, at this stage we are following the recommendations of the task force. As a result, initially only silicosis will be a prescribed occupational respiratory disease. But this is still a huge step forward, and one which is necessary to protect workers, which is what the Labor Party does best. Going forward, that 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 know these changes that will require medical professionals to notify the registry of any diagnosis of occupational respiratory disease could create some kind of burden. We want to make sure that this burden is as little as possible by limiting the mandatory element that must be notified to a minimum notification. A minimum notification will include sufficient information to identify an individual with a diagnosed occupational respiratory disease; the respiratory disease diagnosed; and the detail of the likely exposure that resulted in the disease, including the last and main exposures. While it may be a small burden, it is necessary to ensure there are fewer of these cases arising and needing the attention of these doctors.

There may also be cases where further information will be provided. This additional information can be provided when the individual has provided consent. This information can include relevant medical test results; demographic and lifestyle information such as their smoking history; and employment status and the details of each job where the individual believes they had exposure to respiratory disease causing agents. This is, again, about understanding the full picture, which will help us to work towards preventing these kinds of diseases from impacting workers in the future, and finding ways to better diagnose those suffering with these diseases and give them the best treatment possible.

This information will be available to the physicians treating the individual, but the bill also ensures the disclosure of notifications about the individual made to the national registry, including prescribed Commonwealth, state or territory authorities and state and territory health agencies and work health and safety agencies. It is important that the information is disclosed to state and territory health agencies because responding to the issue of workplace diseases requires us all to work together and, importantly, communicate. The disclosure to state and territory health agencies and work health and safety agencies will increase awareness of the prevalence of occupational respiratory diseases in states and territories and will enable actions to be taken to reduce further work exposure to those diseases. If they aren't aware of the issue, they can't respond. This will mean states and territories will be fully aware of the impact of occupational respiratory disease in their state, which should help them to develop ways to take action against it.

States are not unaware of the issue of occupational respiratory diseases, and many states are doing a lot to act and address this issue. The bill recognises that several jurisdictions have registry functions currently in operation and does not exclude or limit the operation of any state or territory laws requiring the reporting or disclosure of information concerning occupational respiratory disease. This is not intended to override or shut down what is already happening in different states around Australia; this is about creating a combined approach and building onto what is already happening in different states. Given this point, it is important to make sure that this does not create a doubling-up of work when it comes to the requirements of the notification. Where the notification is mandatory in state legislation, the bill provides for notification of those diseases to occur through the national registry, should the state allow it. This will remove the potential for a physician in those states to have to notify twice—once nationally and then again to a state register.

This is not the only thing that our government is doing to keep workers safe. We're a party committed to making sure that workers in this country can go to work and provide for their families and do it safely. We're a party that was born out of the interests of workers. We exist to fight to improve the conditions of workers because everyone should return home at the end of their shift. In the case of respiratory disease, nobody should suffer as a result of what they did for work. Workers like stonemasons work hard; they should not have to find it difficult to breathe later on in life because of their hard work. The establishment of the national registry will complement actions across all Australian governments to reduce exposures in the workplace . It demonstrates the government's commitment to keeping workers safe.

I want to see a future without people who have worked hard all their lives having to pay the price of battling life-limiting disease caused by their workplaces in their retirement. We know that these diseases are preventable, and this bill is about finding the best way to ensure that they are prevented. Retirement should be a reward for a lifetime of hard work; it should not be spent battling the consequences of work, such as occupational respiratory disease. This bill is the first step to preventing this reality, and I commended bill to the House.

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