Tania Lawrence (Hasluck, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Silica is complex. It is used for many things, including as a safe food additive and in cosmetics. Silica is the third most abundant trace mineral in the body, after iron and zinc, and it creates bonds between protein molecules. We cannot live without it. Silica dust, though, is dangerous and deadly.

In Australia, silicosis was something most closely associated with coal and other mining for much of our history. In more recent years, the silica-laden dust produced when cutting engineered and natural stone for use in homes has been maiming and killing our workers, young and old, at a frightening pace. Minister Kearney stated in her second reading speech that research suggests that nearly one in four engineered-stone workers have contracted silicosis—one in four.

Legislators have a duty to investigate, to find information, to listen to and follow the best available expert advice, and to take action. Often, sadly, that knowledge trails behind the headlong development of an industry.

Silicosis is neither a homegrown problem, nor restricted to our shores. Around the world, governments are confronted with the same challenge. In many of those countries the government supports the health infrastructure, and the influence of organised unions is not as effective as those we are blessed with. A report from California carried by the National Public Radio just last month described the plight of Latino men in that state with lung disease who've worked in factories that make kitchen and bathroom countertops. The safety agency there has stated that most countertop-fabrication shops are not complying with federal silica rules. The report suggests it remains a blind spot for most other state legislators. From India, another report carried by the Wire, again just last month, describes the village of Budhpura located in the north-western state of Rajasthan as the epicentre of India's sandstone industry. It is also now known as the village of widows. Now, due to the lack of male workers, those widows are working the jobs that their husbands once worked.

Debate interrupted.

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