Ms Miller slammed the bipartisan infrastructure committee, headed by Labor MP Duncan Pegg, which published a response to a report delivered by her Coal Workers’ Pneumoconiosis Select Committee.
“I say to the chair of the other committee, Duncan Pegg, and the deputy chair Ann Leahy and members of that committee that the hearse is waiting in the driveway of some of these coal miners’ homes,” she said.
“Men are dying of this preventable disease, yet the callous disregard of that committee to give even a sidewise glance to the coal miners’ evidence, which effectively puts the Black Lung, White Lies report in the bottom drawer of this Parliament and slams the door shut on the draft bill that we developed, shows the real calibre of those members’ values and principles.”
Ms Miller said mining and quarrying workers were “woefully let down” by the committee’s report.
“Its report offered no comfort to the coal miners and workers of Queensland or their families, men like Mr Percy Verrall, who was constantly coughing up blood and struggles to walk even a few steps, and his devoted wife Daphne faces the daily heartbreak of trying to care for him,” she said.
Ms Miller said the committee’s actions were “divorced from reality” and she slammed its recommendation, which was simply to note the black lung committee’s report.
She insisted black lung would be an election issue across the coal fields, towns and cities of Queensland.
Black lung, or coal workers’ pneumoconiosis, was thought to be eradicated in the 1980s but cases have been detected since 2015.
Ms Miller also unloaded on the Palaszczuk government’s response, accusing it of being delivered with a “disappointing lack of haste”.
“This is an insult to our coal miners and workers across the coal chain,” she said.
Ms Miller tabled a report from her select committee on Thursday morning, detailing a further response about its proposal for a mine health-and-safety authority…..Ms Miller also unloaded on the Palaszczuk government’s response, accusing it of being delivered with a “disappointing lack of haste”.
“This is an insult to our coal miners and workers across the coal chain,” she said.
Ms Miller tabled a report from her select committee on Thursday morning, detailing a further response about its proposal for a mine health-and-safety authority……more https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/politics/queensland/the-hearse-is-waiting-in-the-driveway-20171026-p4ywnn.html
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