Victoria’s presumptive rights scheme will be expanded to cover firefighters diagnosed with female-specific forms of cancer, but the union has slammed the move as a political stunt.
Legislation for the compensation scheme will be amended to add primary site cervical, ovarian and uterine conditions to the existing list of 12 eligible cancers, Emergency Services Minister Jaclyn Symes has announced.
“This is something that’s been brought to my attention time and time again by female firefighters within CFA (Country Fire Authority) and FRV (Fire Rescue Victoria),” she told reporters on Friday.
Presumptive rights mean that career and volunteer firefighters diagnosed with certain cancers do not need to prove firefighting caused their disease.
Under the expansion, more than 5000 operational female firefighters and mechanics across Victoria’s fire agencies will be able to claim compensation for the additional three cancers.
Victorian firefighters who’ve served for 10 years and are diagnosed with those cancers on or after June 1 2016, will qualify.
The 12 other cancers already covered by the scheme are primary site brain, bladder, kidney, breast, testicular, prostate, ureter, colorectal, oesophageal, non-Hodgkins lymphoma and leukaemia cancers, as well as multiple myeloma.
It has been a long campaign to expand the scheme to female-specific cancers, firefighter Samantha Collins said.
“It’s going to make our female operational firefighters across these agencies a lot more comfortable to know that there’s equality between both male and female firefighters,” she said.
But United Firefighters Union Victorian branch secretary Peter Marshall accused the state government of selling out professional firefighters by adding three cancers to the scheme instead of eight, leaving the state out of step with federal laws.
“While they pretend to protect female firefighters by adding three new cancers, they fail to protect female firefighters who develop thyroid, pancreatic, skin, lung cancer and malignant mesothelioma,” he said.
“This announcement is little more than a political stunt designed to make the Andrews government look good. It has absolutely no substance.”
Primary site lung, skin, cervical, ovarian, penile, pancreatic and thyroid cancer and malignant mesothelioma were added to federal firefighters’ presumptive rights last year.
Earlier this week, the Victorian Greens released a draft bill to add nine more cancers to the state scheme and plan to move amendments to the government’s legislation when it comes before parliament.
“These proposed reforms fall short of the protection firefighters need,” state party leader Samantha Ratnam said.
“While the Greens welcome the expansion of the scheme to include cervical, ovarian and uterine cancers, the reality is Victorian firefighters will remain less protected than their federal counterparts.”
Some 211 claims have been processed since the introduction of Victoria’s presumptive rights laws in 2019.
In 2021, Justice Party MP Tania Maxwell moved to amend the legislation to include ovarian, uterine and cervical cancers but didn’t take it to a vote after the Victorian government gave her assurances it would work towards the change.
