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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.<\/p>\n
Then on February 27, nine days after this masthead launched a major series on the issue \u2013 and months after the construction workers\u2019 union started its own campaign to ban the product commonly used for kitchen benchtops \u2013 Burke said: \u201cWe can\u2019t keep delaying this. It\u2019s time we considered a ban. I\u2019m not willing to wait around the way people did with asbestos.\u201d<\/p>\n
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In February, Workplace Relations Minister Tony Burke said he was not willing to wait for action.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>Alex Ellinghausen<\/cite><\/p>\n The former national dust disease taskforce in 2021 recommended a ban be considered by July 2024 if the industry hadn\u2019t made measurable safety improvements by then. Burke brought that forward by 17 months.<\/p>\n 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\u2019s work health and safety ministers agreed \u2013 not to a ban, but to give Safe Work Australia six months to come up with what one might look like.<\/p>\n When that report landed on ministers\u2019 desks in August, it was locked down. All those who had it \u2013 including employer groups and the ACTU \u2013 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.<\/p>\n And when the safety watchdog\u2019s report was finally released on October 27, ministers \u2013 who\u2019d known for months that it confirmed what doctors and researchers had been saying for years and called for a blanket ban on engineered stone \u2013 still couldn\u2019t reach a decision.<\/p>\n 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\u2019s High Court decision. The pace of the government\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n What about the tradies at risk of disability and even death? Shouldn\u2019t they expect their leaders to show the same sense of urgency in banning a product that\u2019s been likened to the asbestos of the 21st century?<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n That deadline has been set for July 1, 2024 \u2013 the date by which ministers were originally urged to consider a ban. While that may warrant some praise, for many workers it\u2019s still too late.<\/p>\n