News

SitRep 40/2025

November 21, 2025

WE HAVE BEEN HEARD – PRESUMPTIVE CANCER BILL PASSED 

FBEU members have had a significant win today with our Presumptive Cancer Bill passing through the Legislative Assembly with the full support of NSW Parliament.

The Bill adds an additional 10 cancers to existing presumptive legislation for NSW firefighters including pancreatic, thyroid, cervical, ovarian, uterine, vaginal, vulval, penile, lung, and skin cancer.

With the support of The Hon. Mark Banasiak MLC of the Shooters Fishers and Farmers Party, the FBEU has also secured an amendment facilitating retrospective claims to be made, should an eligible firefighter have made a previous workers compensation claim where liability was denied on the grounds of causation. The amendment was passed with the full support of Members of the Legislative Assembly as it passed through the Upper House on Tuesday.

As a result of the Bill, FBEU members will be covered for more occupational cancers than any other Australian jurisdiction. This is a huge achievement, and a testament to the tireless campaign efforts of our members, both current and retired.

This is a poignant moment for our Union. Occupational cancer is a hard and unpleasant reality of our occupation – it touches all of us. Today’s result is an important acknowledgement of those risks, of the impact on our families, and a stark reminder of the comrades no longer with us.

FBEU members and their families deserve this result and have fought hard to achieve it. It reflects the bare minimum support we should be afforded by the NSW Government. The result is something we can – and will – build on.

It goes without saying, that nothing in this legislation lowers our risks of cancer. As always, there is more to do – we’re not done. With that said, I encourage members to reflect on our 2025 achievements to date – alongside access to PFAS blood testing, and new cancer screening arrangements, we are together taking important steps forward for members of our Union – current, retired, and future.

More will be said about this next week once further information is available. In the meantime, members can locate an ABC Radio National segment conducted this morning via this link and are encouraged to contact the FBEU Office should you need immediate assistance.

AWARD UPDATE

The parties are currently in the final stages of completing our 2024 Award. As you would all recall, there were various matters in the decision that the IRC asked that we draft together to reach a final agreed position. We have now reached agreement on all but three clauses being the new Allowance clauses (for both Permanent and Retained), the On-Call / Disturbance Allowance, and Executive Officer Hours of Work.

These three clauses will return to the Full Bench for final determination with a tight turnaround for both parties to file our draft clauses, submissions in support of our position and a full draft of the remainder of the Awards by Tuesday next week. Based on these timeframes we hope the Awards will be completed by 30 November as originally envisioned by the IRC.

In Unity,

Leighton Drury
State Secretary

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