By JESSE GRAHAM
PRESUMPTIVE legislation to assist cancer-affected firefighters may be one step closer, after the Coalition last week announced its support – if it is re-elected this month.
But while Yarra Ranges firefighters are cautiously optimistic, they are asking for more details and say the battle isn’t over.
On Thursday 6 November, Deputy Premier Peter Ryan announced that, if the Coalition won the 29 November election, it would introduce presumptive legislation for firefighters.
Presumptive legislation would mean that, if a firefighter was diagnosed with a specific type of cancer linked with firefighting within a specific time-frame, it would be automatically assumed they received it as a result of their work.
Currently, firefighters in Victoria must prove that their cancer was developed as a result of their work, which may require firefighters to recall specific incidents from over 10 years ago where they came into contact with toxins.
Mr Ryan said the content of the legislation would be determined following the results of Monash University’s Australian Firefighters’ Health Study.
“This is about providing certainty for Victoria’s hardworking firefighters and their families,” he said.
Ferntree Gully CFA volunteer and District 13 president of Volunteer Fire Brigades Victoria Bill Watson said he was waiting to see more details of the promised legislation before commenting further.
“We’re monitoring it very carefully,” he said.
Mr Watson said that, ideally, he would like to see presumptive legislation for all career and volunteer firefighters supported by both parties.
Healesville resident and volunteer firefighter, Damien Beeby, said the announcement was a step forward, but that he was also awaiting more details.
“It’s good, it is a start, but there is a lack of clarity,” he said.
He said that VFBV members would continue to campaign for the legislation until it became law.
The Mail contacted the Opposition with regard to the announcement, and was directed by a spokesperson to a Hansard statement by Shadow Minister for Police and Emergency Services Wade Noonan in June.
The statement read that Labor supports the introduction of presumptive legislation for all firefighters.
Federally employed firefighters and those in South Australia, Western Australia, the Northern Territory and Tasmania are already covered by presumptive legislation for 12 specific cancers.
The government established a Firefighters Assessment Panel last year, after presumptive legislation was introduced by Greens MP Colleen Hartland, but voted down by Coalition MPs.
