Presumed Service Periods for Firefighters with Specific Cancers
Workers Compensation Legislation Amendment (Firefighters) Bill 2025
Legislative Council
Legislative Assembly
Assent
Introduced by: The Hon Jihad Dib MP (ALP); The Hon John Graham MLC (ALP)
Links to official parliament websites
Effects of this bill
If this bill passes, it means that:
The Debate
What different members said when this bill was debated:
Gurmesh Singh NAT
“On behalf of the Opposition, I indicate our support for the Workers Compensation Legislation Amendment (Firefighters) Bill 2025. This reform is overdue. I acknowledge Leighton Drury and Jono Wright from the Fire Brigade Employees Union [FBEU] and Scott Campbell from the Rural Fire Service Association [RFSA] in the gallery.”
Trish Doyle ALP
“I also speak in support of the Workers Compensation Legislation Amendment (Firefighters) Bill 2025 and acknowledge the fabulous Leighton Drury, State secretary of the Fire Brigade Employees Union [FBEU]; Jonathan Wright, champion extraordinaire; and Claire Pullen, former industrial officer.”
James Wallace LIB
“I make a brief contribution to debate on the Workers Compensation Legislation Amendment (Firefighters) Bill 2025. The Hornsby shire has 1,300 local Rural Fire Service volunteers across 19 brigades. To our community, "the bushland shire", the work that those volunteers do is essential. We rely on their bravery and commitment for our safety.”
Jenny Leong GRN
“On behalf of The Greens, I contribute to debate on the Workers Compensation Legislation Amendment (Firefighters) Bill 2025. The Greens support this long‑overdue reform. We acknowledge the work that has been done by so many to bring about the bill. In particular, I acknowledge the efforts of the Fire Brigade Employees Union over many years.”
Liesl Tesch ALP
“I am pleased to support the Workers Compensation Legislation Amendment (Firefighters) Bill 2025. Firstly, I thank our firies across New South Wales. It is a privilege to be in this place representing the people who look after our community every day. I thank those who are watching at home or in fire stations across New South Wales.”
Matt Cross LIB
“I support the Workers Compensation Legislation Amendment (Firefighters) Bill 2025. I begin my remarks by paying tribute to Stuart Clark, AM. Sadly, Stuart passed away earlier this year as a result of having brain cancer. He was a volunteer firefighter, but he was also a partner at Clayton Utz.”
David Mehan ALP
“I contribute to debate on the Workers Compensation Legislation Amendment (Firefighters) Bill 2025. Firefighting is dangerous work, whether it is preventative back‑burning or an urgent response at a moment’s notice. Without the courage of paid and volunteer firefighters, tragedies could become catastrophes. Unfortunately, the danger of the work does not end with the shift.”
Eleni Petinos LIB
“I speak in strong support of the Workers Compensation Amendment (Firefighters) Bill 2025. The bill is about fairness. It is about recognising the men and women who run towards danger when others are running away. It is about ensuring that when those same firefighters fall ill from the very hazards they face in protecting us, the State they served stands beside them, not against them.”
Sally Quinnell ALP
“I make a very brief contribution to give my wholehearted and full-throated support to the Workers Compensation Legislation Amendment (Firefighters) Bill 2025. I have come in at the tail end of this very long campaign, working with the Fire Brigade Employees Union [FBEU] for the past two years to voice their desire for this legislation. When no-one else believed in me, they did.”
Kobi Shetty GRN
“I also make a brief contribution to debate on the Workers Compensation Legislation Amendment (Firefighters) Bill 2025. I feel compelled to speak because my dad was a firefighter in Western Australia for 30 years. He is still around. He retired in 2020. He gave his adult working life to protecting his community, so I thought I should get up and recognise just how important this bill is.”
David Saliba ALP
“I speak in support of the Workers Compensation Legislation Amendment (Firefighters) Bill 2025, and I commend both Ministers for their work in this space. I will add another dimension to debate, drawing from my own experience. After I became an MP, I visited all of the fire stations in my electorate.”
Stephen Bali ALP
“I speak in support of the Workers Compensation Legislation Amendment (Firefighters) Bill 2025. I thank Minister Dib and Minister Cotsis for their leadership and their work on the bill. I also acknowledge the work that has been undertaken by their staff in collaboration with all stakeholders to get the bill before this House. I note Minister Cotsis’s comment:”
Nathan Hagarty ALP
“I will try to make this a record by my standards and be brief. When you work your backside off to get into this place, there is no better feeling than seeing that something you are personally involved in and have advocated for is likely to pass. This is certainly one of those times. The Workers Compensation Legislation Amendment (Firefighters) Bill 2025 is very important.”
Sophie Cotsis ALP
“I thank Minister Dib, of course, as the Minister responsible, but also for his work with me over the past couple of years on this. I acknowledge his work, his determination and his dedication to the people who serve our community, particularly our firefighters and volunteers. I also thank the Minister’s office, and I will have more to say on that at the end of my contribution.”
News articles and press releases
Workers Compensation Legislation Amendment (Firefighters) Bill 2025
The Hon. JOHN GRAHAM, Minister for Transport — 2025-11-11
This bill adds 10 additional primary site cancers to the presumptive firefighter cancer list in the Workers Compensation Act 1987. Whilst presumptive legislation in workers compensation does not create a new entitlement to compensation, it makes it easier and faster to access compensation. Instead of a worker having to prove their injury was caused by work, as is the usual case, an eligible firefighter diagnosed with any of the primary site cancers on the list is presumed to have a compensable injury. Cancers are, for the most part, diseases of long latency. A firefighter’s exposure is likely to have occurred years or even decades earlier. Gathering evidence of exposure to prove work-relatedness at a time when one has had a life-altering diagnosis can be time consuming, difficult and expensive. Having a presumption in place supports firefighters and their families at that difficult time.