Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2013, published 103rd ILC session (2014)

Workmen's Compensation (Occupational Diseases) Convention (Revised), 1934 (No. 42) - Australia (Ratification: 1959)

Other comments on C042

Observation

Direct Request

2013

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Australian Capital Territory. The Government indicates that the amendment to Schedule 1 of the Workmen’s Compensation Act to establish the presumption of the occupational origin of anthrax infection contracted in employment related to the loading and unloading or transport of merchandise in general was postponed from 2010 to the end of 2013. The Committee hopes that this amendment will be adopted as foreseen in order to give full effect to this specific requirement of the Convention.

South Australia. The State Government indicates that there are no plans to amend the workers’ compensation legislation with a view to establishing the presumption of occupational origin of anthrax infection of workers employed in loading and unloading or transport of merchandise. However, as an active member of the Strategic Issues Group for Workers’ Compensation (SIG-WC), South Australia participates in the work performed within the temporary advisory groups (TAGs) aiming, inter alia, to improve equity between different schemes by providing the opportunity for workers who suffer a known work-related disease to seek compensation through the reversal of the burden of proof. South Australia will consider the possibility of legislative change further to the outcomes of this work. The State Government also recalls that all workers (as defined by the Workers Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 1986) are entitled to compensation for compensable injuries sustained during the course of employment, including the diseases listed in the Schedule appended to the Convention. Taking due note of this information, the Committee would like the Government to supply in its next report information regarding any progress made in improving the manner in which the legislation of South Australia gives effect to the Convention on this specific issue.

Queensland. The State Government of Queensland reiterates in its report that the Workers’ Compensation and Rehabilitation Act of 2003 does not recognize the presumption of occupational origin of diseases for workers in the occupations or industries mentioned in the Schedule. Rather, all workers are considered for compensation for all injuries, including diseases in the Schedule, where work is a significant contributing factor. The Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) also stresses in its above communication of August 2012 that Queensland is the only jurisdiction in Australia which does not have a list of occupational diseases, considering all claims under the general injury and disease provisions. The Committee wishes to point out that the international obligations assumed by Australia by ratifying the Convention shall apply to all constituent jurisdiction of the country. The State Government of Queensland is thus obliged to show good faith in fulfilling the obligation under Article 2 of the Convention to recognize the presumption of occupational origin of the diseases listed by the Convention for workers engaged in the corresponding occupations or industries. The Committee hopes that the work performed in the framework of Safe Work Australia to ensure national consistency in workers’ compensation issues and the solutions implemented by other constituent territories of Australia, which are fully applying the Convention, with a view to amending the applicable legislation, will allow the State of Queensland to supplement its legislation with the list of diseases mentioned in the Convention.

Updating the lists of occupational diseases. In its comments noted above, the ACTU states that the current lists of occupational diseases in most of the jurisdictions of Australia have not been updated to reflect the current ILO list of occupational diseases. The Committee recalls that the list established by Convention No. 42 was updated in 1964 on the occasion of the adoption of the Employment Injury Benefits Convention, 1964 [Schedule I amended in 1980] (No. 121), which Australia has so far not ratified. More recently, in 2002, the List of Occupational Diseases Recommendation, 2002 (No. 194), established the most up-to-date international framework concerning occupational diseases as well as a mechanism allowing for the list attached in its Appendix to be regularly reviewed with the latest such review carried out in 2010. The Committee wishes to draw the Government’s attention to Recommendation No. 194 in view of the implementation of the Australian Work Health and Safety Strategy 2012–22 (agreed by Safe Work Australia in June 2012) on which the Government has provided information in its report on the application of the Occupational Safety and Health Convention, 1981 (No. 155).