The Hon. T.A. FRANKS: I rise on behalf of the Greens to speak in support of the Return to Work (Employment and Progressive Injuries) Amendment Bill 2024. This bill will ensure that workers are able to return to work after an injury and ensure that what is in the best interests of the South Australian community is continued.
I do, however, take this opportunity to note concerns from stakeholder groups and from the Greens regarding the effectiveness of certain processes under the Return to Work Act. Section 18 refers to an employer's duty to provide suitable employment, insofar as reasonably practicable. Regardless of an injured worker's income support or what their role may have been before, employers should be obliged to help the worker return to the workplace. A scheme which supports a return to the workforce results in better outcomes for injured workers and reduces scheme costs to relieve employers. The Greens believe that a fair and comprehensive workers' rights compensation scheme is essential to protect workers. These amendments will ensure that no worker is cast aside or left behind and can better re-enter or assimilate back into the workforce.
The Greens have for a long time of course campaigned for worker protections with regard to crystalline silica dust, and we have finally seen engineered stone banned at a federal level and, through regulations, at a state level. We welcome that. However, as we know from this horrible disease, the symptoms of silicosis can appear many years after exposure. In some cases, workers have been exposed for decades before they become debilitated by their illness. In these instances, workers can be subject to unfair earnings calculations, as they may be earning less than when they were exposed.
Amendments in the bill will now allow a worker with a prescribed dust disease, such as silicosis or others, to opt for fairer income supports and elect whether their former or current employment is used for calculating their average weekly earnings. This bill also imposes obligations on self-insured employers, such as BHP or Woolworths, and the state government to affirm that where a worker is injured working for a self-insured group they have a duty to provide suitable employment across their business. The Greens welcome these changes, which ensure workers' rights are protected and injured workers are supported in their transition back into work. With that, I commend the bill.