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Urgent action was needed to address spiralling rates of tradies diagnosed with lung disease silicosis after inhaling dust particles while cutting engineered stone, Workplace Relations Minister Tony Burke declared just over a year ago.
Then on February 27, nine days after this masthead launched a major series on the issue – and months after the construction workers’ union started its own campaign to ban the product commonly used for kitchen benchtops – Burke said: “We can’t keep delaying this. It’s time we considered a ban. I’m not willing to wait around the way people did with asbestos.”
In February, Workplace Relations Minister Tony Burke said he was not willing to wait for action.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
The former national dust disease taskforce in 2021 recommended a ban be considered by July 2024 if the industry hadn’t made measurable safety improvements by then. Burke brought that forward by 17 months.
But for all the talk of urgency, Burke went on national radio the next day to say a ban would take at least a year. That afternoon, the nation’s work health and safety ministers agreed – not to a ban, but to give Safe Work Australia six months to come up with what one might look like.
When that report landed on ministers’ desks in August, it was locked down. All those who had it – including employer groups and the ACTU – declined to comment on its contents, and Canberra refused to release it under freedom of information laws before it could be discussed at a meeting in late October.
And when the safety watchdog’s report was finally released on October 27, ministers – who’d known for months that it confirmed what doctors and researchers had been saying for years and called for a blanket ban on engineered stone – still couldn’t reach a decision.
Compare it to the speed with which the government rushed through complex legislation to re-detain some of the people released from indefinite detention after last month’s High Court decision. The pace of the government’s response was spurred in part by the need to be seen to be tough when confronted with daily headlines about a cohort of violent, foreign criminals.
What about the tradies at risk of disability and even death? Shouldn’t they expect their leaders to show the same sense of urgency in banning a product that’s been likened to the asbestos of the 21st century?
Since the Safe Work report was published, all states and territories have voiced their support for an engineered stone ban. Ministers on Wednesday formalised that agreement and set an end date for its use. But they have still delayed decisions on the treatment of stone in demolitions and renovations, while builders will receive a grace period beyond the deadline if they have signed contracts to use it.
That deadline has been set for July 1, 2024 – the date by which ministers were originally urged to consider a ban. While that may warrant some praise, for many workers it’s still too late.
Cut through the noise of federal politics with news, views and expert analysis from Jacqueline Maley. Subscribers can sign up to our weekly Inside Politics newsletter here.
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