 We'd also like to talk to you today about the body of work that the agency's undertaken to address the risks of silicosis in workplaces. So silicosis is a progressive lung disease that's caused by the inhalation of respirable crystalline silica. So very small particles of silica dust, less than 10 microns in diameter. So that's about a fifth to a seventh of the diameter of a human hair. Work inhalation of silica can cause inflammation and scarring in the lungs, and that's the etiology of silicosis. One of the difficulties with managing this risk is the long latency period between the first exposure and the disease. Now while we can see acute and accelerated forms of silicosis that may occur within a few years of the first exposure, some exposures may lead to people developing silicosis within 10 years or more. Unfortunately, there's no known cure for the disease apart from a lung transplantation, lung transplant, and as you very well know, it's debilitating and can be fatal. Silica is not only associated with silicosis, it can also cause other occupational and spiritual diseases like progressive, progressive massive fibrosis, COPD, chronic bronchitis, various forms of lung cancer, chronic kidney disease, and it can also precipitate autoimmune disorders like lupus and sclerodoma, which affects the connective tissue of the body. So silicosis is really a re-emerging disease in Australia. The first recent case associated with engineered stone was reported in the literature in 2016 in this paper that you can see here, and that health screening programs have been enacted in many states and territories, and these have identified hundreds of cases of silicosis in engineered stone workers. So between 2010 and 2011, that financial year and 2019 and 2020, there have been about 950 workers' compensation claims accepted, and I think about 60 or so percent of the claims within the last five years have been within the last financial year, so certainly the burden of disease does seem to be increasing. It's also important to note that the disease isn't limited to stone masons, despite the focus on stone masons in engineered stone, particularly in the media, and it affects quarry and mining workers, bricklayers, and a whole range of other labourers as well. So in terms of the work that the agency and its members have undertaken to minimise the risk of silicosis in Australia, the first piece of work that we've completed is reducing the workplace exposure standard for respirable crystalline silica. So in 2019, the ministers agreed to reduce the time-weighted average from 0.1mg per metre cubed to 0.05mg per metre cubed at our time-weighted average. So this is one of the lowest workplace exposure standards in the world, and this has now been implemented in all jurisdictions with the exception of Tasmania. We're also just about to release a model code of practice for people working with engineered stone. Model codes of practice in themselves provide practical guidance on how to achieve the standards of work health and safety underneath the model work health and safety laws, but they have to be enacted within the jurisdictions for them to be approved as a code of practice and used in court proceedings. So this code of practice sets out the requirements for duty holders under the Model WRCS Act and its regulations and provides information in general about engineered stone and respirable crystalline silica and the health effects of inhalation of respirable crystalline silica. It clarifies who has health and safety duties under the WHS laws, how they should and must manage and control the risks of exposure to respirable crystalline silica in their workforce, talks about maintaining and reviewing control measures, also talks about the ways for respirable crystalline silica, duties for health monitoring, air monitoring, and also an importantly clean up and disposal of silica dust in the workplace. Another piece of work that we're progressing at the moment is to include some avoidance of doubt regulations to prohibit the uncontrolled processing of engineered stone, because the uncontrolled process of engineered stone is more likely than not a breach of the Model WHS laws. So at the moment we're preparing a regulatory change to expressly prohibit uncontrolled cutting, grinding, trimming, sanding, polishing or drilling of engineered stone with power tools and plant. We're also undertaking regulatory impact analysis on other options to minimise the risks of respirable crystalline silica exposure in Australia. So in case you don't know, regulatory impact analysis is the process that's required to implement regulatory change. And it's a formal process of describing the problem, identifying regulatory and non-regulatory options to address the problem, assess the impact of those options, of the proposed regulation under those options and also has a formal consultation process with stakeholders. So one of the things that this will consider will be to consider the licensing of persons conducting a business or undertaking who work with engineered stone as recommended by the National Dust Diseases Task Force. And they had it down their report in June 2021 of this year. It's worth a read if you're interested in dust diseases in Australia.