Brett McNamara's cancer diagnosis helps volunteer firefighters access compensation

A series of tests then a biopsy in August confirmed the ACT Parks and Conservation manager and 30-year rural fire service veteran had high-grade prostate cancer, the kind requiring urgent intervention before it could spread to other parts of the body.

Surgery was booked for September 27.

But there was a problem.

Mr McNamara - who fought on the frontline during the 2003 and 2020 Black Summer bushfires - had applied for compensation to cover medical expenses under a scheme for firefighters.

But four days before going under the knife, the claim had yet to be processed.

He was almost $50,000 out of pocket, the victim both of a grave health condition and a decade-old legal loophole which has left Canberra's rural firefighters more exposed than their counterparts in other states or territories.

Under federal legislation passed in 2011, if a firefighter is diagnosed with one of 12 types of cancer after serving for certain periods of time, there is a legal presumption that their exposure to flames and toxic smoke contributed to their condition for the purposes of securing workers compensation.

But presumptive liability wasn't extended to ACT rural fire service volunteers, leaving them to fight with insurers to prove a causal connection.

Just days out from his surgery, Mr McNamara's insurers were still seeking more information about his case, including proof that firefighting was a "substantial" part of his role managing the ACT's parks.

"The intent of presumptive legislation is to support people when they get diagnosed, not to make them jump through hoops and loops and having the emotional turmoil that I've had to experience ... having to pay for your surgery while you're waiting for it," he said.

At the height of his frustration, Mr McNamara fired off an email to ACT Labor senator Katy Gallagher and independent senator David Pocock among others, hoping to convince them to fix the injustice.

Last week, he got his wish.

Buried in the Albanese government's complex industrial relations bill was a clause to extend the presumptive liability provision to volunteer firefighters in the ACT.

In a speech to parliament on Thursday, Workplace Relations Minister Tony Burke acknowledged Mr McNamara, ACT federal representatives and the firefighter groups who had been lobbying for years for the change - including the ACT Volunteer Brigades Association.

The association's vice-president, Matt Dutkiewicz, said the change would offer comfort to volunteers as more and more research showed the dangers of long-term exposure to smoke.

"It has always been a real concern for our members that their volunteering may result in life-threatening cancer," he said.

"Being able to be covered by this law, gives us the opportunity to at least know that if something goes wrong, there is some cover."

The loophole is being closed almost three years after it was recommended in a federal government-commissioned review of the Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 1988.

The review heard that the ACT government was supportive of the change, writing in its submission that "volunteer firefighters should have the opportunity to access the same workers' compensation cover provisions as their career counterparts". The Canberra Liberals under then leader Alistair Coe also backed the move.

The Morrison government agreed to the review's recommendations.

But progress was slow and it appears to have taken a change of government, persistent advocacy from volunteers and ACT politicians, and Mr McNamara's cancer diagnosis to spur action.

On the same day Mr McNamara went under the knife, Senator Pocock was taking up the cause in the Federal Parliament.

"The government can change this with the stroke of a pen and it wouldn't cost a cent," he said in a speech to the Senate.

Senator Pocock said the issue was first raised with him at a town hall meeting in July. The more his team examined it, he said, the more it realised how out of step the ACT was.

The crossbencher wrote to Mr Burke on September 6 - a few weeks before Mr McNamara's intervention - asking him to expand presumptive liability to Canberra volunteers.

"It was outrageous that until now, due to a quirk in Comcare laws, firefighters in the ACT were the only ones in the country being disadvantaged when it comes to seeking treatment for cancer caused from doing their job," Senator Pocock told The Canberra Times after the bill to close the loophole was introduced last week.

"This will stop our firies being left behind to battle with insurers, often during times where they are facing a cancer diagnosis.

It wasn't just the former Wallabies captain in Mr McNamara's corner.

Mr McNamara, who knew Senator Gallagher from her time in the ACT Legislative Assembly, said the now Finance Minister had taken a moment amid the madness of federal budget day to send a personal, heartfelt note. The parks chief said he also received a phone call from Mr Burke.

"This whole thing, the momentum of it all, is a classic example where democracy and having people who really give a shit, get elected to parliament," Mr McNamara said.

"It is quite remarkable. It restores your faith."

Mr Burke's bill, which will need to pass both houses of parliament before becoming law, also adds malignant mesothelioma to the list of 12 cancers and reduces the qualifying period for oesophageal cancer from 25 to 15 years.

He's signaled there's more to come.

"This is unfinished business and we will continue to consult to ensure our laws provide firefighters and all first responders with better access to the compensation they deserve for work related injuries and illnesses," he said.

Four weeks on from surgery, Mr McNamara is slowly on the mend. The prognosis is optimistic but these things are never certain.

His compensation claim was eventually approved and he's since been reimbursed for the cost of the surgery.

It's a fight he believes he should've never had to have. It's one the volunteers he's fought alongside over the years would have had "no hope" of winning.

The case for change is clear.

The health shock has caused him to reflect on the funerals he's attended over the years for firefighting mentors killed by cancer.

Were they the victims of the toxic smoke which billows from a bushfire?

"We talk about dangerous trees that will kill firefighters. We talk about the fire itself that will kill firefighters. We talk about trucks that rollover," he said.

"But we don't talk about toxic smoke and the prolonged exposure.

"The legislation [for compensation] is great in that it's a safety net, but we shouldn't have to have it there.

"What we really need to be doing is increasing awareness around bloody toxic smoke."

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