Observation (CEACR) - adoptée 1990, publiée 77ème session CIT (1990)

1. Capital Territory. Further to its previous comments, the Committee notes with satisfaction that, as regards public sector employees, the Compensation (Commonwealth Government Employees) Act, 1971, was repealed on 1 December 1988 and replaced by the Commonwealth Employees' Rehabilitation and Compensation Act, 1988. It therefore notes that item 28 of the Schedule of Diseases contained in the Gazette Notice made pursuant to section 7, paragraph 1 of the 1988 Act provides that occupational infections or parasitic diseases (such as anthrax) are compensable in the same circumstances as those prescribed for such diseases in Convention No. 121.

As regards private sector employees in the now self-governing Capital Territory, the Committee notes that new legislation was still before the Legislative Assembly. It requests the Government to communicate a copy of this legislation as soon as it is adopted.

2. Western Australia. Further to its previous comments, the Committee notes with interest that the Workers' Compensation and Assistance Act, 1981 (Western Australia), has been amended to include in column 2 of Schedule 3 - Specified Industrial Relations - the description of conditions in which anthrax is recognised as an occupational disease. It notes however that the new wording refers, among the conditions that may cause this disease, to "the loading and unloading or transport of merchandise containing anthrax organisms", whereas the Convention covers these operations for all merchandise in general with a view to protecting workers who may unwittingly have handled infected merchandise, relieving them of the necessity to prove that they have been in contact with infected merchandise. The Committee hopes that the Government will be able to make the necessary amendments to ensure the complete application of the Convention on this point.

3. Queensland. Since 1963, the Committee has been calling the Government's attention to the legislation in force in this State which, unlike the Convention, does not establish a presumption of the occupational origin of the disease for workers engaged in the industries or occupations mentioned in the right-hand column of the schedule of the Convention, when they suffer from one of the conditions appearing in the left-hand column of this schedule.

The Committee regrets to note once again that the Government limits itself to saying that there is no change to the views provided previously, namely that the Queensland Government still considers that the legislation of that State is sufficiently broad to ensure adequate protection of workers and should remain unchanged at present.

Concerning the possibility of ratifying Convention No. 121, the Committee draws again attention to the fact that Article 8 of this Convention enables each member State to choose between three procedures, i.e. either (a) to describe a list of diseases, comprising at least the diseases enumerated in schedule I of the Convention, which should be regarded as occupational diseases under prescribed conditions; or (b) to include in its legislation a general definition of occupational diseases broad enough to cover at least the diseases enumerated in schedule I to the Convention; or (c) to prescribe a list of diseases in conformity with clause (a), complemented by a general definition of occupational diseases or by other provisions for establishing the occupational origin of diseases not so listed or manifested under conditions different from those prescribed.

The Committee therefore expresses again the hope that while examining the possibility of ratifying Convention No. 121 the Government will take the necessary measures to review the present legislation, in accordance with the intention expressed previously so as to supplement the present workmen's compensation scheme for diseases with a double-list system, in conformity with the Convention.

4. Tasmania. The Committee notes that the Government's report contains no reply to its previous comments; it must therefore repeat these comments which read as follows:

The Committee noted that the State's existing legislation on workmen's compensation was still under review and that there had been no further development since the last report. The Committee therefore again expressed the hope that the review in question would soon be completed and that the list would include poisoning by alloys and compounds of lead, amalgams and compounds of mercury, compounds of phosphorous and arsenic and halogen derivatives of hydrocarbons of the aliphatic series, as well as all pathological manifestations due to radiation and also silicosis in association with tuberculosis, and that it would set out the industries or occupations likely to lead to the diseases covered by the Convention.

5. South Australia. The Committee notes that the Government's report contains no reply to its previous comments; it must therefore repeat these comments which read as follows: REPETITION START OF REPETITION

The Committee had noted the adoption of the Workmen's Compensation Act, 1971-82. It drew attention to the fact that the conditions in which anthrax is recognised as an occupational disease are limited to "loading or unloading or transport of animals infected or their parts" whereas the Convention covers on this point "loading, unloading or transport of merchandise" among the activities that may lead to anthrax infection. The Committee expressed the hope that the Government would be able to make the necessary amendments to ensure the complete application of the Convention on this point.

END OF REPETITION [The Government is asked to report in detail for the period ending 30 June 1991.]