Return to Work (COVID-19 Injury) Amendment Bill

Introduction and First Reading

Mr PICTON (Kaurna) (11:02): Obtained leave and introduced a bill for an act to amend the Return to Work Act 2014. Read a first time.

Second Reading

Mr PICTON (Kaurna) (11:03): I move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

While there are sadly too many South Australians who do not have a job to go to at the moment, we are asking many other workers to turn up every day in the face of uncertainty and risk. It is only fair that we stand with them and ensure that they are protected and supported if something goes wrong that most likely occurred through their work. The bill seeks to achieve that outcome.

In summary, the bill sets out a limited list of prescribed occupations and workplaces. These occupations and workplaces must meet two criteria: workers must undertake duties because they are critical to the ongoing operation of economic, health and emergency functions, and workers may be exposed to dozens or hundreds of other people every day. There is no easy way to draw a line about who should or should not be supported, but the bill includes hospital and surgeries, public transport and passenger aviation, child care and aged care, schools and kindergartens, supermarkets and service stations, and police and emergency services.

Importantly, the bill allows the minister to make regulations that can add additional workers as necessary. In these occupations or workplaces, if a worker contracts COVID-19 it will be presumed that the illness was contracted through work, in the absence of evidence to the contrary. This reverses the onus of proof, just as the act already does for more than two dozen conditions in certain circumstances. In doing so, it will provide greater access to workers compensation for a limited number of workers in specific circumstances.

We cannot afford for these workers not to be at work, and this bill will give them peace of mind and the protection they need. At a broader level, the COVID-19 crisis has presented many challenges and it requires that they are addressed in record time. The government has been working to address many of these issues, and the opposition has supported every piece of COVID-19 legislation they have brought to the house.

The opposition has also been working with people from across the state to listen to their voices and address their concerns. This work led to the development of this bill, primarily by the shadow attorney-general, the Hon. Kyam Maher. Work is a huge concern for everybody. Many South Australians have lost their jobs and income through no fault of their own. Fortunate members of the community are able to work from home with little or no public contact, but others, from specialist doctors to the person who helps us at the supermarket, are in greater demand than ever before. These people have no choice but to be at work and to come into contact with dozens or hundreds of people every day.

For them, there is an increased risk of infection, even if their employer or workplace has taken steps to protect their staff and customers. That is why this legislation is so important—to make sure that those workers are protected, those workers who have no choice but to turn up for work, those workers who have no choice but to be exposed to hundreds of people every day. They need our backing and they need our support through this legislation.

For casual workers on low pay or with no access to leave, this bill provides critical income protection if they contract COVID-19 in a prescribed workplace or occupation. For permanent workers, it adds an additional layer of protection and builds on the Return to Work Act schedules that already list presumptive conditions for which the standard onus of proof is reversed. This includes conditions directly linked to occupations, such as mining or meatworks. It also includes work that exposes employees to hazards, ranging from noise to radiation. Those are already legislated; we want to expand that to cover this pandemic.

We introduce a new schedule 3A that makes COVID-19 a presumed condition for people in a prescribed occupation or workplace. The opposition shared this bill with the government last week in the hours following its drafting. Despite an offer to discuss the bill, no response was ever received. Instead, there were media responses from the government and media releases began to appear from some interstate groups warning of supposed dire consequences, including completely erroneous claims of charges of manslaughter resulting from this. Despite those erroneous claims, we have in fact now included a statement in this legislation to make it very clear. I quote:

(2) To avoid doubt, nothing in this Schedule (or in another Schedule of this Act) is to be construed as giving rise to liability beyond that which is already provided for in this or any other Act.

So these sorts of consequences are not actually going to flow from this legislation. This is a bill to protect workers. This is a bill to protect those we are relying upon to provide services critical to the public, from nurses in our hospitals to check-out and pharmacy operators, to people we all rely on for however long this pandemic lasts. The Labor Party will always back these workers and hence we endorse this bill to the parliament.

Debate adjourned on motion of Mr Pederick.