Queensland Unions Call on the LNP to Urgently Close the Loophole Undermining Industrial Manslaughter Laws

MEDIA ALERT

28 April 2026

Date: Tuesday, 28th April 2026

Location: Speakers Corner, Queensland Parliament

Queensland Unions Ceremony: 12:00 PM

Press Conference: 1:00 PM

Speakers available

• Jacqueline King, General Secretary Queensland Council of Unions

• Leesh Dawson, Adult child of Graham Dawson (Coal Miner killed at work in 2021)

• Stacey Schinnerl, State Secretary, Australian Workers Union

• Stephen Smyth, General Vice President, Mining and Energy Union

Media are invited to attend both the ceremony and press conference.

International Workers' Memorial Day – 28 April 2026

Queensland unions and the family of a deceased coal miner are calling on the LNP Crisafulli Government to urgently close a dangerous loophole in the state's mining safety laws that allows companies to insure against the consequences of wrongful and negligent workplace deaths.

Graham Dawson was killed at a mine site near Emerald in Central Queensland in 2021. His employer, Mastermyne, was recently found guilty of industrial manslaughter – an offence involving negligent conduct leading to a worker's death.

Following the conviction, the company notified the Australian Securities Exchange that any penalty would be mitigated through its insurance program.

Queensland's general Work Health and Safety (WHS) laws were strengthened in 2024 following union campaigning to ban insurance and indemnity arrangements for fines, ensuring companies cannot avoid the financial consequences of serious safety breaches. This prohibition is also reflected in model WHS laws adopted across other Australian state and territory jurisdictions.

However, this critical reform has not been extended to the coal mining and quarrying industries in Queensland. As a result, companies operating under these laws can still insure against substantial penalties, even for the most serious offence: negligently causing a worker's death.

This loophole is a profound failure of the law.

• It turns life-and-death penalties into a business expense.

• It undermines the entire purpose of industrial manslaughter laws.

• It sends a message that corporate negligence can be insured, but workers pay with their lives.

• It leaves mining workers with weaker protections than every other worker in Queensland.

Queensland must urgently amend the Coal Mining Safety and Health Act 1999 (Qld) and the Mining and Quarrying Safety and Health Act 1999 (Qld) to match the WHS Act by:

• Banning insurance and indemnity for fines

• Voiding any contracts that attempt to cover penalties

• Ensuring companies and executives personally bear the consequences of their actions

  
  

Media Comments

Jacqueline King General Secretary Queensland Council of Unions

"On Workers' Memorial Day, we honour Graham Dawson and every worker who didn't make it home. But remembrance is not enough. Right now, there is a glaring loophole in Queensland's mining safety laws that allows employers to insure themselves against negligent workplace deaths.

"Queensland unions are calling for urgent action to close this loophole so industrial manslaughter laws mean what they say. Insurance for wrongful death puts a price on workers' lives, and that's simply not good enough."

Stephen Smyth National Vice President Mining and Energy Union

"It is bad enough that Graham Dawson was killed as a result of negligence by his employer Mastermyne. But the laws which dished out a penalty for industrial manslaughter should also prohibit the same company found guilty of simply claiming that fine against their insurance.

"There is no justice for Graham's death when the company gets to treat his life just like another business expense."

Stacey Schinnerl State Secretary Australian Workers Union, Queensland Branch

"AWU members work under both general work health and safety laws in Queensland as well as in general mining and quarrying. No employer, regardless of the industry they work in, should be able to insure against the death of a worker."

Leesh Dawson,

"My dad went to work and never came home. That's something our family has to live with every single day.

"Hearing that the company responsible can insure the fine for his death is devastating. It makes it feel like his life can be reduced to a cost of doing business.

"No family should have to go through this, and no company should be able to insure its way out of accountability.

"If these laws are meant to deliver justice, then they need to mean something – for workers, and for the families they leave behind."

Section 272A Work Health and Safety Model Laws (and WHS Act (Qld))

Insurance or other indemnity against penalties

(1) A person must not, without reasonable excuse—

(a) enter into a contract of insurance or other arrangement that purports to insure or indemnify a person for a liability for all or part of a monetary penalty under this Act; or

(b) provide a contract of insurance or an indemnity for a liability for all or part of a monetary penalty under this Act; or

(c) take the benefit of a contract of insurance or other arrangement, or an indemnity, that purports to insure or indemnify a person for a liability for all or part of a monetary penalty under this Act.

Maximum penalty—500 penalty units.

(2) Subsection (1) places an evidential burden on the accused to show a reasonable excuse.

(3) A term of a contract of insurance or other arrangement, or an indemnity, is void to the extent it purports to insure or indemnify a person for a liability for all or part of a monetary penalty under this Act.