Dust-borne Diseases

The Hon. C. BONAROS (15:00): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Attorney and Minister for Industrial Relations a question about protections against dust-borne diseases for tunnel workers.

Leave granted.

The Hon. C. BONAROS: An editorial appearing in the Sydney Morning Herald over the weekend, titled 'The human cost of Sydney’s many tunnelling projects', discusses the growing evidence of dust-borne diseases taking their toll on trade workers assigned to tunnels in New South Wales. Prompting this editorial was the same day reporting conducted by the Herald Sun revealing that 13 workers on tunnelling projects across Sydney have been diagnosed with silicosis, including one worker as young as 32.

Since 2019, SafeWork SA has only raised four alerts related to airborne hazards across tunnelling companies, and that is despite having known about those risks much earlier than that. My questions to the minister are:

1. Can the minister provide an update on the implementation of silicosis-related measures specifically as they relate to tunnelling projects here in South Australia?

2. What measures are or has SafeWork SA taken in terms of protecting against similar sorts of exposure to dust-borne diseases?

3. What are the statistics on silicosis diagnosis here in SA, and what specific projects are they attributable to, if at all?

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Attorney-General, Minister for Industrial Relations and Public Sector, Special Minister of State) (15:02): I thank the honourable member for her questions. Firstly, I acknowledge her longstanding interest and her commitment in this area. We have during this term of parliament made very significant changes to our Return to Work system to recognise the effects that dust-borne diseases have on workers.

Particularly, we recognise how the presentation of that disease can often be a significant amount of time after the disease was contracted, and the effect it has on the ability to work and, unfortunately, in so many cases causing death, often happens a significant time after that, again. While we have made changes at the very end of the process to make it fairer and more equitable, it still is a significant problem.

Not directly in relation to tunnelling, but we have taken a leadership role in Australia in relation to dust-borne diseases as it pertains to engineered stone. We led the way to say we would go it alone if the use of engineered stone for slab benches wasn't looked at nationally. Very pleasingly, it is now national and all states and territories have agreed to end their use, and the commonwealth have an importation ban on those products.

Specifically in relation to statistics and programs for tunnelling, I will be happy to refer that question and bring back an answer after consulting with SafeWork SA for the honourable member. I want to make clear, though, that anyone who runs a business has a responsibility to provide a safe workplace. That's very clear in our legislation, but in terms of specific statistics or programs, I will be happy to bring back an answer for the honourable member.