Hands Off Our Safety: Queensland Unions rally against LNP attack on worker protections

MEDIA RELEASE

9 February 2026

Queensland Unions will mark the opening of the 2026 Queensland Parliament with a protest rally launching its "Hands Off Our Safety" campaign, calling on the LNP Crisafulli Government to back down on proposed changes that would weaken critical workplace health and safety protections for Queensland workers.

On 21 January 2026, the LNP Government released its official response to a Queensland Productivity Commission report into the construction sector. Buried within that response are proposals that would significantly wind back Queensland's world-leading work health and safety (WHS) laws.

Queensland Unions warn the proposed changes would reduce workers' rights to cease unsafe work, including when they are exposed to serious risks such as psychosocial harm, extreme weather conditions, asbestos or silica dusts, and occupational violence in classrooms or detention centres.

The LNP Government has also accepted a recommendation to water down Queensland's enforceable Codes of Practice. These Codes currently allow elected Health and Safety Representatives and WHS inspectors to intervene early to prevent injuries and deaths. Under the LNP's plan, Codes of Practice would only carry weight after an employer has been prosecuted, turning prevention into an afterthought.

Queensland's enforceable Codes of Practice were strengthened following the tragic Dreamworld incident and other construction fatalities in 2016, ensuring regulators can act before lives are lost. The proposed changes threaten to undo those hard-won lessons.

The LNP is also seeking to remove or weaken Queensland-specific Codes of Practice that reflect the unique risks of our industries, instead relying on generic, Canberra-written codes with no real enforcement power. This includes Codes covering:

• safety in sugar mills

• diving work

• coal dust exposure in power stations

• theme park safety

• Queensland's nation-leading psychosocial hazards Code of Practice

Queensland Unions say the changes put workers across all industries at risk and represent a serious backward step for safety standards in this state.

Queensland Unions are calling on the Crisafulli Government to abandon the proposed changes and keep its hands off workers' safety.

RALLY DETAILS

Tuesday 10 February 2026

4.30 pm

Speakers' Corner, Parliament House

Corner George & Alice Streets

(QUT entrance)

"Queensland Unions are calling on Premier Crisafulli to meet with union leaders and commit to abandoning these dangerous proposals, which put money and productivity ahead of workers' lives.

"Our safety laws were built on the blood and loss of working people. Trading them away for increased profits for developers and construction companies will place workers across all industries at greater risk of injury, psychological harm and death.

"Queenslanders will not accept a government stripping away protections that save lives through proactive prevention measures like the right to cease unsafe work where they face serious risk of harm and enforce safe work procedures in real time, not after the damage is done.

"The LNP must remember that Queensland's laws were strengthened after the tragic Dreamworld incident to prevent future disasters. Weakening them again ignores those lessons and risks higher injury rates and more workplace fatalities across dangerous industries."