Anne Ruston (SA, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Health and Aged Care) Share this | Hansard source

This package of legislation—the National Occupational Respiratory Disease Registry Bill 2023 and the National Occupational Respiratory Disease Registry (Consequential Amendments) Bill 2023—delivers on a recommendation of the National Dust Disease Taskforce, established under the former coalition government in 2019, to create a national occupational respiratory disease register in response to the growing incidence of silicosis among Australian workers.

Silicosis is an irreversible fibrotic lung condition caused by inhaling very fine silica dust. While it is preventable, there is currently no cure. The coalition will support this package of legislation because it builds on the important work that the coalition commenced in government to address the worrying issue of occupational dust disease in Australia and respond to the growing incidence of silicosis. The National Occupational Respiratory Disease Registry Bill 2023 will create a legislative framework to establish and manage the national occupational respiratory disease registry, which will collect data on the incidence of respiratory diseases thought to be occupationally caused or exacerbated. The national registry will capture key details, including the place of business, industry, occupation and main job task where the exposures are believed to have occurred. The national registry will collate respiratory health data to assist in the detection of new and emerging threats to workers and respiratory health and inform incidence trend. The registry will also disclose information on occupational respiratory diseases in Australia to state and territory authorities, reflecting their ongoing roles and responsibilities in understanding and responding to occupational respiratory diseases in their jurisdictions.

The National Occupational Respiratory Disease Registry (Consequential Amendments) Bill 2023 makes consequential amendments to existing federal legislation in order to support the effective implementation of the National Occupational Respiratory Disease Registry Bill 2023. The bill amends the Freedom of Information Act 1982 to exempt protected information included in the National Occupational Respiratory Disease Register from disclosure under the act protecting individuals' privacy or commercial interests.

These bills deliver on the National Dust Disease Taskforce's recommendation to establish a national registry on this very important issue. All Australians, regardless of their occupation or how they are engaged, have a right to a healthy, safe, well-designed workplace. However, it is estimated that one-in-four people who work with silica products will develop silicosis. The rapid emergence of new cases of accelerated silicosis, particularly among those working with engineered stone, is of deep concern. That is why the former coalition government established the National Dust Disease Taskforce on 26 July 2019 as part of our $5 million election commitment. We committed to investigate the growing number of silicosis cases in individuals working in the industry and to develop a national approach for the prevention, early identification, control and management of occupational dust diseases in Australia.

In establishing the task force, the former coalition government committed $5.1 million to support its critical work including funding for research to better understand, prevent and treat preventable occupational lung diseases. This fund also included $1.6 million for the development of a national dust disease registry, and we recognise the government's decision to progress our commitment through the package of bills we are debating. The task force's final report was published on 12 July 2021 following extensive consultation with a broad range of stakeholders.

The former coalition government worked with the states and territories to develop a nationally coordinated all-of-government response to the task force's final report, which was endorsed on 4 April 2022. We also invested $11 million over four years as part of our 2022-23 budget to address key recommendations from the task force's final report. This funding package supported an enhanced focus on prevention activities and improved support for affected workers and their families, and strengthened the evidence base and research capabilities. We also supported upskilling and improving the expertise of medical professions in relation to dust diseases to ensure the right knowledge is available to provide adequate care and support to affected patients.

This package of bills complements all of the work we undertook in government to respond to this important issue, particularly to protect workers at risk from dust diseases across Australia. It is important that we recognise the work of former ministers Greg Hunt and Michaelia Cash.

The coalition remains strongly committed to reducing the incidence of silicosis and other dust diseases amongst workers and increase the quality of life for affected workers and their families. Given our longstanding commitment to this issue and our extensive work undertaken while in government, we recognise the importance of this legislation.

The national occupational respiratory disease register will play a critical role in addressing the growing instance of silicosis and other occupational respiratory dust diseases in Australia. Once again, the coalition will support this package of bills which builds on our work to address the increased incidence of silicosis and other occupational respiratory dust diseases in Australia.