2015-12-08
My question is to the Special Minister of State. As the minister would be aware, many firefighters, both career and volunteer, and their families are becoming very anxious about presumptive legislation and when it will be introduced. Obviously their concern is about it providing fair coverage for firefighters with cancer and what detail the bill may have.
The minister can understand how difficult it is for firefighters who are touched by industrial cancers and that they should not have to worry about their finances and their medical treatment.
Obviously in previous times this has been extraordinarily difficult, and I would like to give them some relief from their anxiety, so my question is: when will an exposure draft on this legislation be made public, and when exactly in 2016 does the government intend introducing presumptive legislation to the Parliament?
Mr JENNINGS (Special Minister of State)—I thank Ms Hartland for not only the interest she has demonstrated today but over a long period of time in terms of the resolution of these matters. On this side of the house we have joined in our desire to ensure that we introduce this egislation. The government has actively considered those matters during the course of this year, and recently my colleagues the Minister for Emergency Services and the Minister for Finance have led active discussions within the government to ensure that we apprise ourselves of the various models used in other jurisdictions. For instance, Tasmania is often cited as a jurisdiction we may wish to model ourselves on when it comes to the availability of access for professional and volunteer firefighters to open, reliable and, as much as possible, equitable outcomes.
What we have seen in recent times in terms of the underlying anxiety and concern that is evident amongst firefighters both on the professional side and on the volunteer side is an escalation of either industrial or campaigning issues that have not necessarily assisted in the dispassionate reconciliation of how you design a scheme to come through and provide appropriate access. In fact there has been some counterproductive campaigning undertaken to try to divide the firefighting community and the Victorian community, rather than assist in an amicable resolution of these matters.
The issues concerned in the demonstration outside were not primarily driven through the prism of presumptive rights; they were in relation to unresolved enterprise bargaining issues——
An honourable member interjected.
Mr JENNINGS—I am very optimistic that the government will be able early in the New Year to resolve both of these matters. My colleagues are anticipating coming back to cabinet in the New Year with specific proposals which would then enable us to go into the public domain to make the community very clear about the scope of how we think we can provide an equitable, reasonable and compassionate response to great health concerns.
I would anticipate that early in the New Year there will be a public exposure of these issues, if not the exposure of a piece of legislation which would underpin these proposals. But ultimately that timing will be dependent upon my colleagues the Minister for Emergency Services supported quite enthusiastically and fulsomely by the Minister for Finance.
Supplementary question
Ms HARTLAND (Western Metropolitan)—I thank the minister. My supplementary question, and I know the minister has covered it somewhat in his answer, is around volunteers. The minister is correct; there is a campaign running. Personally I was a bit shocked at it considering it seems to be coming from The Nationals and the Liberal Party, which blocked this legislation at every turn in the last Parliament, and given Mr Guy has now said in the public domain they got it wrong. Can I have some assurances for those volunteers that they will be considered with equity in this legislation?
Mr JENNINGS (Special Minister of State)— Ms Hartland will note that I resisted the temptation to talk about the duplicity, if not the hypocrisy, of other members of the Parliament. Ms Hartland chose to take us there, and if people reflect on their actions in the past compared to their current actions, then maybe that is a worthy outcome of her question. I would think that is a good thing. I would think it is good for all of us to unite as a Parliament on these matters.
Within what is equitable in relation to the design, the equitable situation is the complex issue about what are the preconditions by which eligibility for presumption is determined. For full-time professional firefighters in the metropolitan area who go to many events that have intense outcomes, that is relatively clear. For others, it is a more complex formula that needs to be accounted for in the work that is being undertaken.