Gordon Reid (Robertson, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

The Australian government is committed to protecting Australian workers from harm associated with silicosis and silica-related diseases. On 1 July 2024, the government joined with states and territories to implement a world-first prohibition on the use, manufacture, supply, processing and installation of engineered stone benchtops, panels and slabs within Australia. The measure is supported and strengthened by the prohibition on the importation of engineered stone, and that was implemented on 1 January 2025. The Customs Amendment (Expedited Seizure and Disposal of Engineered Stone) Bill 2024 will amend the Customs Act 1901. The amendments in this bill are essential to supporting the effective operation of the import prohibition by enhancing existing seizure and disposal powers under the Customs Act.

I want to talk a little about the disease of silicosis because silicosis changes the lives of not only the patient but also the family, friends and the clinicians that support, treat and care for them into the future. We know that silicosis is actually a spectrum of pulmonary disease. It's caused by the inhalation of free crystalline silica, or silica dioxide. There's actually written evidence of silicon related occupational lung disease dating back to ancient Egypt and ancient Greece. There's been documented evidence and information relating to this disease for quite some time.

The clinical presentations of silicosis, the diagnostic work-up, the evaluation and the pulmonary disability that occurs with silicosis actually has quite the spectrum. You've got acute silicosis on one end, which is that hyperrealisation of symptoms, including dyspnoea—shortness of breath, particularly at rest. You could have pleuritic pain—pain around the chest and lungs. You can have haemoptysis—the coughing up of blood—as well as fevers and the like. All of those can range from acute to chronic silicosis, and it can actually occur from hours to days after exposure to silica, as well as up to multiple decades after exposure. You might be exposed to it at one point and then you won't know, or you won't present to the doctor, until many years later, which is what makes this such a dangerous thing in our society. Those in the occupations who are on-site with the tradies won't necessarily know that they've become unwell. It's not until they present late at night coughing up blood with chest pain, or they go to their GP because they've got this intractable fatigue that they just can't get rid of, or weight loss, that they are diagnosed. It really, really is a dangerous pathology. This customs amendment goes to the heart of it. The more that we can control this issue and stop it from hitting our society, the better and healthier we will all be.

I've gone through the spectrum of what silicosis is—the acute, the chronic and the like—but there are other complications that can actually be associated with silicosis, along with the other pneumoconioses too, which are the other occupational lung diseases. In particular, with silicosis you've got an increased risk of things like microbacterial infection, chronic necrotising aspergillosis, lung cancer, rheumatic disorders, kidney disease, chronic airflow obstruction and chronic bronchitis. Going through some of these things, there's not only a cost to the patient but also a cost to the healthcare system. When someone develops pulmonary renal syndrome, where the lungs are failing because of silicosis, and then the kidneys begin failing—is that person then going to end up on dialysis? Is that person going to need renal replacement therapy? That's a huge medical intervention that people require. That involves staffing, dialysis machines and access to tertiary medical services in some instances. That can have a huge impact on our country and our society.

Then there is chronic airflow obstruction and chronic bronchitis. We hear these terms thrown around when we talk about pulmonary diseases in the community, but, looking at what some of these things mean—chronic airflow obstruction and chronic bronchitis—we're talking about an inflammation of our airwaves. Eventually the end stage of this disease, if it either is untreated or cannot be treated, is essentially suffocation. You stop taking in air. You stop changing over that carbon dioxide to the oxygen that you need in your cells to live, and, at the end of the day, you will eventually suffocate to death.

Making sure that we control this silica and that we rid it from our society is so important because people have died from this. No doubt people will die from this in the future, which is an absolute tragedy. But we need to prevent it. That's what Labor governments do. We do this sort of reform. It doesn't matter whether it's here with silicosis and silica or when we look at things like asbestos; bulk-billing, universal health care and access to those health services that every Australian requires—it's really only this side of the House that has the wherewithal and the gumption to get that done. There are two outstanding health professionals and parliamentarians that are sitting here in the chamber now: Assistant Minister Kearney and the member for Macarthur, Dr Mike Freelander. They've always been champions of our universal health system and making sure that patients can get access to the treatment that they deserve. It's absolutely outstanding.

But there's another thing that I wanted to run through with silicosis, and that's the link of chronic silica exposure to other diseases, which is a bit of a lesser-known aspect. Some links are stronger than others, but it is important, I think, to bring up. An example is rheumatic heart disease. We know that silicosis as a condition is associated with the production of autoantibodies, such as antinuclear antibodies and rheumatoid factor, which is interesting. You normally associate those types of autoantibodies, those circulating chemicals in the blood, with autoimmune diseases—things like lupus, discoid lupus, systemic lupus, erythematosus and other autoimmune diseases—but you wouldn't necessarily associate them with silica exposure. That's an area that absolutely needs a lot more research, but it's an interesting link to consider.

I spoke about chronic kidney disease before. With silica exposure, that airflow limitation can contribute to chronic bronchitis as well, and also to early lung malignancy and lung cancer. They're just some other conditions that have been associated with chronic silica exposure.

Outside of those health related changes that are absolutely essential and need to be made in order to prevent silica exposure, why else is this change needed? As engineered stone products are a bulk good, management of seized engineered stone products at the border poses significant challenges in terms of storage, transport, disposal and administration. Managing engineered stone as a prohibited import without this amendment may result in a significant increase in the volume of seized goods that are required to be stored and an increase in associated work at the border. That will impact the Australian Border Force's capacity to effectively regulate and administer other border operations and protect Australians, at the end of the day.

Streamlining the logistics and administrative tasks related to managing seizures for the intended new engineered stone prohibition will allow for a more efficient compliance process, resulting in the Australian Border Force having an increased ability to allocate resources across those priority areas. This isn't just another example of the Australian Labor Party strengthening health care and strengthening the rights of workers; this is also making sure that we're streamlining our administrative processes to make it easier for our Public Service to operate and make our community safer for all Australians.

Another question that gets asked is, 'Can engineered stone still be imported?' The import ban is intended to complement the domestic ban under the WHS laws, as I said before. Almost all engineered stone in Australia is manufactured overseas and imported. The import ban will provide an additional layer of deterrence at the border. Regulations to enact the import prohibition are currently under development, with funding of $32.1 million over two years provided in the 2024-25 budget for the ABF to enforce the intended import prohibition.

We've gone through what silicosis is, how it's caused and what this bill means, but, again, as I was saying, it strengthens the health care of Australians and it goes to the heart of what this side of the House is all about—that is, ensuring that the health care of all Australians is accessible, affordable and equitable. I've spoken today in a private member's motion about strengthening Medicare and the tripling of the bulk billing incentive. In Robertson, we've seen tens of thousands of people able to access a bulk billed GP for the first time in years. We saw the opposition today in question time spruiking numbers of falling bulk billing rates, which was absolute rubbish. We know that bulk billing rates are on the rise—they are in Robertson, and they are in other parts of the country. This is in association with our cheaper medicines legislation, making sure that people can access PBS medications when they need it and where they need it—

Thank you, member for Macarthur! That's whether they are blood thinners or diabetic medications, or whether they're inhalers. These medications are important not only to sustain life but also to ensure that there are no other exacerbations of these chronic illnesses so that patients don't end up in the emergency department.

There was also the announcement that was made recently regarding women's health—an absolutely outstanding announcement, a tremendous announcement, from the assistant minister and from the minister for health, looking at ensuring women's access to contraceptive devices and pharmaceuticals, and to clinics that can help diagnose, evaluate and then go on to treat things like endometriosis and chronic pain. And also, as to contraceptive access, I think it is absolutely outstanding and really should be commended, because, at the end of the day, whether you work in health care or whether you have the honour to serve in this chamber here, the idea is that you want equitable access for all Australians, and that's exactly what this does.

It is absolutely fantastic that, later next week, in my electorate of Robertson, we'll be holding a women's health forum—the second Central Coast Women's Health Forum, in fact. It'll be at the Impact gym at Erina, starting at 5.30; RSVP through my office.

The first women's health forum gave women on the Central Coast a place where they could talk openly and safely about the issues that are affecting them, particularly with access to health care. That's what this second forum is about. It's about ensuring that I, alongside the assistant minister, can provide information on what the government is doing with regard to women's health care. It's also about making sure that women on the Central Coast can have their say about what they would like to see, whether that's access to primary care, access to pharmaceuticals or access to the new schemes for our pharmacies as to the treatment of UTIs and the provision of oral contraception.

I think that that expanded scope of practice and making sure that all of our clinicians across Australia are working at the top of their scope is absolutely paramount, because that way Australians will be getting the care they need when they need it. The forum will be a great chance for people to have their say about that and really nail down those details to what that means every day. It means that you won't have to go to the doctor as frequently. I guarantee you: our GPs in the community will not be short of work! Patients will be able to go to the pharmacy and get the treatment they need, or go to the GP and get the treatment they need, or, if they are really unwell, come and see me at the hospital in the middle of night. You'll be able to get the care that you need when you need it.

Really, it is only the Australian Labor Party, under the Albanese Labor government, with a terrific team of ministers and assistant ministers, and the great caucus that we are, that has made this possible, because, without the election of the Labor government in 2022, none of this would have happened. I guarantee you: bulk-billing would have been abolished. There would have been an ED entry fee. There would have been a GP tax that would have been introduced. We'd be paying—

A government member interjecting

That's exactly right; we'd be paying more for medications. As we know, the Leader of the Opposition was voted the worst health minister by Australian doctors, and he ripped tens of billions from our public health system. And that has repercussions. That has effects and flow-on effects over years. That means underresourced hospitals; that means understaffed hospitals—all because the Leader of the Opposition didn't have the gumption and the commitment to serve the Australian people and ensure the health care of every Australian citizen right across this country.

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