Engineered Stone

The Hon. T.T. NGO (15:12): My question is to the Minister for Industrial Relations and Public Sector. Can the minister tell the council about a meeting of work health and safety ministers that occurred recently?

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Attorney-General, Minister for Industrial Relations and Public Sector) (15:12): I thank the honourable member for his question. At a recent meeting of work health and safety ministers in March, there was further discussion about a matter I have spoken previously in the chamber about, and that is engineered stone containing respirable crystalline silica dust. When processed through cutting and grinding, small particles of that dust can be inhaled in the lungs and can cause permanent disability and death.

An expert report from Safe Work Australia last year was developed following extensive stakeholder consultation and represented independent analysis and an expert review of the scientific evidence. That report found that engineered stone workers are dramatically over-represented amongst workers diagnosed with silicosis. The report found that there is no scientific evidence for a safe threshold of crystalline silica content in engineered stone and recommended a prohibition on the use of all engineered stone.

In December last year, South Australia was proud to join every other jurisdiction in Australia in supporting the ban on the use of engineered stone from 1 July 2024. This was a significant moment of national unity, with governments of both major political parties recognising the significant risks to workers' health and safety arising from these dangerous products. That followed significant leadership in the community, where we saw groups ranging from the Australian Medical Association and the Lung Foundation to national retail groups like Bunnings and IKEA calling for these products to be banned and, in some cases, acting on their own and doing so.

In that context, I was very pleased to attend a follow-up meeting of work health and safety ministers in March to discuss the next steps for the implementation of the ban on engineered stone. Importantly, this meeting also gives a clear direction to industry on transitional arrangements that apply for existing engineered stone contracts. As a government, we do not want to see a situation where new home owners are unnecessarily disadvantaged as a result of the ban on engineered stone, but our overriding concern has to be the safety and the health from a disease that can cause death.

That is why the work health and safety ministers have agreed to a transitional period for most jurisdictions for work involving the supply and installation or processing of engineered stone benchtops for contracts entered into before 31 December 2023. For those contracts which pre-existed before the announcement of the ban in December last year, there will be a six-month transitional period where the products can be installed up until 31 December 2024. For all other contracts, the ban will come into effect on 1 July 2024.

The transitional period provides a reasonable balance between the need to get these products out of the market as soon as possible while avoiding significant disruption to the delivery of new housing stock. This is supported by significant growing evidence of broader new alternative products which are coming to the market as replacement products for engineered stone. These transitional arrangements will be implemented in a nationally consistent manner as far as possible, noting that some jurisdictions will have slight differences, with Safe Work Australia to finalise necessary amendments to the model work health and safety regulations in the coming weeks.