2024 End Of Year Statement

2024 has been an extraordinary year for Queensland workers.

In May, Queensland Unions won important changes to our work health and safety laws, including stronger rights and powers for Health and Safety Representatives. Industrial manslaughter laws were extended to cover bystanders who are killed as a result of reckless or negligent actions by a business or undertaking, and its now much clearer that multiple parties may also be prosecuted for negligent deaths.

From July a new sexual harassment work health and safety law was enacted –requiring all Queensland employers to have active prevention plans in place from 2025.

In September, our campaign for 10 days paid reproductive health leave was also successful with all Queensland public sector employees and employees within government owned corporations now able to access this important right. This is a world leading entitlement which we will continue to campaign for a National Employment Standard for all Australian workers.

In October, we saw the passage of new Queensland Respect at Work laws requiring employers to put in place positive measures to take reasonable and proportionate measures to prevent all forms of discrimination and harassment in Queensland workplaces. These laws also include new protections such as ‘irrelevant medical records’ which will mean that from July 2025, an employer cannot ask prospective employees to provide evidence of their medical history if it is not relevant to the job they are applying for, among other matters.

Then we had the change of state government at the end of October and many of these important changes are now under threat.

On its first sitting day of Parliament in November, the LNP introduced new laws requiring union employees to provide 24 hours’ notice to access a workplace to investigate suspected breaches of work health and safety laws, placing workers at greater risk of their safety.

Not only were unions not consulted by the Government, the LNP also introduced and rushed these changes through in less than one day.

Construction workers also awoke one morning in November to a media announcement that the LNP were ‘pausing’ the Best Practice Industry Conditions (BPICs) for the construction industry.

BPICs has been an important protection for Queensland construction workers introduced under the former Labor Government requiring any major builder or contractor to have in place industry conditions to work on all major Government infrastructure projects such as hospitals, schools, roads, rail and bridges.

This included having decent and fair wages and conditions, strong measures to address health and safety risks and hazards such as heat stress, and a range of positive social measures like employing ratios of apprentices on the job.

Now the LNP are in the process of establishing a Queensland Productivity Commission whose first job will be to review the Queensland construction industry – clearly aimed at cutting construction workers wages and conditions and attacking their health and safety under the guise of productivity.

Looking ahead and next year is also the federal election expected sometime before May, where workers rights again will be at play. New rights and conditions such as same job same pay, delegate rights, the right to disconnect and many more are clearly at risk if an LNP Government is elected.

Already the LNP Federal Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has said these rights will be removed if he becomes Prime Minister.

So, stay tuned for 2025. It’s our 140^th year anniversary since the inception of the original Queensland Trades and Labour Council – now Queensland Unions.

And as we have for all of that time, and along with your valued support, we will continue to fight to protect and improve the rights of Queensland workers and their families.

In the meantime, enjoy your Christmas and family time as we finish this extraordinary year.

In solidarity,

Jacqueline King

General Secretary

Queensland Unions

ENDS