[Greens-Media] Greens’ Bill To Protect ALL Firefighters

[Franks, Office]

Greens’ Industrial Relations spokesperson Tammy Franks MLC will today introduce a bill into State Parliament to support both career and volunteer firefighters who contract a range of twelve defined cancers from exposure to the proven occupational hazards of fighting fires.

“The carcinogens won’t discriminate between an unpaid or a paid fire-fighter and neither should we.

“The Greens’ Workers, Rehabilitation and Compensation (Protection for Firefighters) Amendment Bill 2012 will mean that if a firefighter contracts certain types of cancer, the ‘onus of proof’ currently required will be reversed. If the fire-fighter satisfies the criteria set then the cancer will be presumed to be work-related for worker’s compensation purposes. The scheme won’t differentiate between whether they are in the CFS or the MFS,” Ms Franks said.

“This bill follows on from the Senate Committee inquiry into, and then successful passage of, the Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Amendment (Fair Protection for Firefighters) Act successfully passed into federal law by the Greens’ Member for Melbourne, Adam Bandt MP. After the extensive work of that inquiry I took a proposal for a similar bill for SA to the Weatherill Government early this year and also worked with various stakeholders including the CFS Volunteers Association (CFSVA) and the United Firefighters Union (UFU SA). So it was a deep disappointment to hear the government announce last week that they would pursue the scheme for the MFS, but for not the CFS fire-fighters.

“It would in fact be a shift away from the current status quo to afford only the MFS this recognition. Since 1989 CFS volunteers have enjoyed parity of treatment with their MFS colleagues under workers compensation regimes.  The Greens’ bill will give a fair go to all firefighters who regularly put their lives on the line for the benefit of the entire community. The Greens’ bill recognises that we have a history of parity of treatment in our state and it also recognises that often the MFS and the CFS are in fact shoulder to shoulder fighting the very same fires – as we saw just this past weekend.

"The need for the new laws is clear and the science is settled. The Senate Committee inquiry thoroughly showed the way and we are simply following the lead set by the US and Canada,” Ms Franks concluded.

* Evidence shows firefighters start their career in better health than the average person, but after only a few years they become five to ten times more likely to contract certain kinds of cancers. Fighting fires is hazardous work as carcinogenic compounds are produced in many fires from natural and synthetic sources and carried by smoke, are absorbed through the skin or airways and into a fire-fighter’s body. International studies have shown beyond doubt that this toxic cocktail of chemicals and smoke puts fire-fighters at a much higher risk of cancer than non-firefighters. In New Zealand, firefighters were found to have up to 10 times the risk of testicular cancer compared with the general population.

For further comment contact Jamnes Danenberg on 0457 549 938