[Greens-Media] Greens Welcome Firefighters’ Compensation Initiative

[Franks, Office]

Greens’ Industrial Relations Spokesperson Tammy Franks MLC has welcomed today’s announcement from Premier Jay Weatherill to enact a Greens’ initiative for compensation to firefighters suffering from a range of work-related cancers.

“The Government’s announcement to change the law to give firefighters access to WorkCover payments for cancers including primary brain, bladder and kidney cancers is modelled on Greens MP Adam Bandt’s successful Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Amendment (Fair Protection for Firefighters) Bill 2011,” Ms Franks explained.

“The Greens have campaigned for change in the laws around compensation for firefighters given the well-established difficulties in being able to comply with the provisions of current legislation that required any cancer to be tracked to one specific incident.

“Adam Bandt’s federal bill has meant that if firefighters contract certain types of cancer, it will be presumed to be work-related and we assume that Premier Weatherill’s mooted changes for SA will echo this.

“We know firefighters do a dangerous and difficult job, putting their lives at risk to protect the community. They face a higher risk of cancer than other people because of their exposure to toxic chemicals and dangerous materials such as asbestos on a daily basis in the course of their work.

"Statistics show that despite firefighters starting their career in better health than the average person after several years on the job they become 5 to 10 times more likely to contract certain cancers.

“This move to provide the financial support and access to WorkCover assistance and rehabilitation is long overdue, but a very welcome move.
“The Greens will work with the Government and hopefully the Opposition and other cross benchers to ensure that this important change in workplace laws is introduced as soon as practicable,”Ms Franks concluded.


For further comment contact  Jamnes Danenberg on 0457 549 938