Gavin Marshall (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

and indeed this morning. You are totally responsible for the rather delicate way that I am feeling today, so thank you for that! I want to echo Senator Abetz's words in commending the United Firefighters Union for running such a professional and fantastic campaign, which has culminated in the Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Amendment (Fair Protection for Firefighters) Bill 2011 getting through the parliament to this stage. This is the final passage of the bill through the parliament. I know you are all very proud to be here, and I am very proud that you are here and that I could play my small role in helping to get the bill here.

We are under time constraints at the moment, so I am not going to speak for a long time. I am the only person from the Labor Party, apart from the Parliamentary Secretary for School Education and Workplace Relations, who will speak on the bill, and that is not because my colleagues did not want to speak; in fact, they all did. Every single senator on this side of the chamber—and, I expect, on the other side of the chamber—wanted to speak. So I very much speak for every one of my Senate colleagues here, who took enormous interest in the progress and development of this bill and in the facts and figures that were presented to us.

Peter, you made a compelling case. You, Mick and Wattie need to be congratulated. It has been a fantastic effort. I am very proud of this parliament too, because we are only the third jurisdiction, the third country, in the world to introduce such legislation. That is a fantastic result and another one you ought to be proud of. I ought to also say that this legislation had the personal support of the Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, and the personal support of the Minister for Tertiary Education, Skills, Jobs and Workplace Relations, Senator Chris Evans.

I also want to congratulate my deputy chair on the Senate Education, Employment and Workplace Relations Legislation Committee. The committee report is a comprehensive report. It collected all the science and all the arguments and presented them in a comprehensive document which was the basis of the legislation progressing through this parliament. Many people played a role: Senator Chris Back, as deputy chair; Senators Bilyk and Thistlethwaite from the ALP; Senators Boyce, Cash and McKenzie from the coalition; and Senator Wright from the Greens. Everyone took on the task of doing this work with enormous gusto and enthusiasm.

It became apparent to us very, very early that this was a very worthy cause. The bill does not actually establish any new rights, but it rights a wrong that was happening under the present workers compensation system. It enables firefighters to access the same right that nearly every other worker in this country has. The ability to not have to identify which fire and which particular chemical contributed to a cancer but rather to say that it is the cumulative effect of fighting fires over a period of time is a result for firefighters, because we know that the firefighter population have between two and five times—or even seven times in some instances—greater risk than the general population of contracting many types of cancer. We know, through the scientific studies that have been conducted, that that is as a consequence of their being exposed to a cocktail of chemicals throughout their professional careers. It is an enormous responsibility that they take on to save lives while putting their own lives at risk, both through the immediate danger and through the ongoing exposure. It is right and proper for the parliament to recognise that.

I am very proud, as I know everybody in this chamber is, to take this legislation forward. I am not going to go through all the justification for it, because the committee report stands for itself. I simply want to say how pleased I am. And now that Senator Abetz is back here let me also pay him a very rare compliment from me. I know that Senator Abetz, as the shadow minister for workplace relations, gave his personal support to this bill. I want to commend him on that. I would have liked to have talked for a long time and gone through all the details, but given the time constraints—we are at the end of the year's sitting period—I will say again that it was great to meet you guys last night and this morning. I will not be coming out with you again tonight! But congratulations on a great effort. Once again, I say to Peter, Mick and Wattie, all the branch secretaries, everyone who has come along and everyone who has lobbied their members of parliament: well done.