Bills

Return to Work (Presumptive Firefighter Injuries) Amendment Bill

Final Stages

Consideration in committee of message No. 303 from the House of Assembly.

(Continued from 25 November 2025.)

The Hon. K.J. MAHER: I move:

That the House of Assembly's amendments be agreed to.

I am pleased to advise that since this matter was last considered by the Legislative Council, the government has had extensive good faith dialogue with the leadership of the United Fire Fighters Union about the progress of this legislation. Given the parliamentary year is shortly coming to an end, neither party wants to see this delayed any further. As a result of those discussions, we have reached an agreement on a pathway which will see the list of presumptive firefighter cancers under the Return to Work Act expanded to match the list of cancers covered under the equivalent legislation in Queensland.

The House of Assembly has passed amendments to the bill to deliver on the first tranche of that. With these amendments, the bill will extend presumptive liability to include primary site cervical cancer; primary site ovarian cancer; primary site uterine cancer; primary site penile cancer; primary site thyroid cancer; primary site liver cancer; malignant mesothelioma; and reduce of qualification for primary site oesophageal cancer from 25 to 15 years.

These provisions will apply to both employed South Australian Metropolitan Fire Service firefighters as well as volunteers deemed to be employees of the Crown for the purpose of the act, such as the Country Fire Service. These provisions will also apply retrospectively to cover claims relating to injuries dating back to 1 July 2013, consistent with other presumptive cancers covered by the legislation.

These changes will come into effect immediately upon assent, rather than awaiting a separate proclamation. As part of the government's discussions with the United Fire Fighters Union, the government has also committed and places on the record its commitment that should it be re-elected at the next state election in March it will progress a bill within the first 100 days of the next parliamentary sitting term to legislate presumptive liability for four remaining additional cancers: primary site pancreatic cancer; primary site skin cancer; primary site lung cancer; and asbestos related disease.

These four remaining items, I am advised, are the most financially complex to accurately model, and deferring them until the next term of parliament provides time to finalise costing works and ensure that the impacts of those amendments is properly accounted for before they come into effect. This approach will enable the government to immediately address our original goal of addressing cancer specifically affecting women, make significant immediate progress on other cancers affecting firefighters, and allow us to finalise existing costing work on the remaining items before the term of next parliament.

These amendments follow significant commitments to additional medical support, screening and health monitoring services for all MFS employees as part of a new enterprise agreement, which was reached in principle agreement with the government and the leadership of the United Fire Fighters Union last week. Together, these reforms will help detect and treat firefighting-related cancers as soon as possible and make it faster and easier for firefighters to have any workers compensation claims for firefighting-related cancers made and accepted.

This reform recognises the growing number of female firefighters in South Australia and the invaluable service they provide to the community. This will remove barriers to fair access to support and compensation for workplace injuries and is consistent with similar amendments introduced in other jurisdictions. We understand the United Fire Fighters Union has written to members urging them to support this bill.

I wish to place on the record the government's gratitude to the leadership of the United Fire Fighters Union, particularly secretary Max Adlam and acting secretary Peter Russell, for their constructive approach.

The Hon. R.A. SIMMS: Just to clarify, I stood up to speak because I had been listed to speak. I want to indicate my support for the bill. I welcome the fact that the government has taken action on this. As the minister has acknowledged, this is an issue that has been the subject of a long-term campaign from many people, including in this place but also the relevant union, and it is great to see this becoming a priority for the parliament.

Motion carried.