Safety Bulletin - December 2023
Australia – Cyber security amendments proposed
The Australian Government has released the 2023-2030 Australian Cyber Security Strategy and its Action Plan, detailing how the country’s cyber resilience will be strengthened. Improvements include moving telecommunications security regulation to the Security of Critical Infrastructure Act 2018 (SOCI Act), considering proactive cyber risk management for the aviation and maritime sectors, increasing cyber security obligations for systems of national significance, ensuring critical data is held in secure storage systems, and allowing government a last-resort power to manage significant incidents. Industry will be consulted on addressing gaps in existing laws and the proposed SOCI Act amendments.
Read more from Home Affairs here.
Australia – National respiratory disease registry to begin
The Australian Government has passed legislation to develop a National Occupational Respiratory Disease Registry. Prescribed medical practitioners will be required to document diagnoses of silicosis to the registry, and optional reporting for other occupational respiratory diseases. The registry is expected to be completely operational within six months, and will assist with understanding how prevalent occupational respiratory diseases are, leading to earlier detection, intervention and prevention.
Read more from the Department of Health and Aged Care here.
Queensland – Final report into workers compensation scheme review published
The Queensland Government has published the final report following an independent review of the workers’ compensation scheme. The review found that the scheme worked well, however made 54 recommendations for improvement. Recommendations include increasing the response to secondary mental injuries, introducing a positive duty on insurers to report suspected offences by employers, and extending compensation coverage to gig workers. The Government’s response will be available in 2024.