The presumptive legislation was the result of an Australian Senate Inquiry that accepted international and scientific evidence that firefighters have an increased risk of contracting specific cancers due to their exposure to toxins and carcinogens when undertaking firefighting operations in the course of protecting the community.
Without presumption legislation, firefighters are unable to access medical assistance and entitlements under relevant compensation law because they are unable to pinpoint the fires and the carcinogens where the exposure resulted in the contraction of the cancer.
The above legislation provides protection for the fire agency and its insurer as well, as the presumption that it is occupational cancer can be challenged if the agency does not believe the cancer was contracted due to firefighting.
By enacting presumption legislation, it alleviates the stress and expense of a lengthy litigation process to prove the cause of the cancer so that the firefighter can instead concentrate on treatment and recovery. This has been confirmed by evidence before the recent Senate inquiry.
The “Fair Protection for Firefighters” legislation enacted last year covers federal firefighters – the career firefighters in ACT and in the aviation industry.
Recent events have highlighted the need to ensure that all Victorian career and volunteer firefighters are provided with access to their rightful entitlements in the event that they contract cancer in the course of protecting the community.
When enacted this will apply to both career and volunteer firefighters who put their lives and health on the line to protect the Victorian community.
Volunteer Fire Brigades Victoria (VFBV) and the United Firefighters Union (UFU) will now be working together to bring in improved legislation so that all Victorian firefighters can access medical assistance and entitlements for occupational cancer.
We encourage you to get involved with this important discussion and support us in our endeavours to gain support from all political parties and key decision makers.
The Greens have publicly declared their support for such protections and we now need to bring on board all Victorian MPs.
The VFBV and UFU are approaching all State MPs as part of a unified campaign, requesting support for presumptive legislation for the protection of all Victorian firefighters.
| Peter Marshall Secretary UFU |
Andrew Ford CEO VFBV |
