Queensland’s government wants to hand Deputy Premier Jarrod Bleijie the power to break up strikes by public sector workers, including where a stoppage is deemed to be against “the public interest”, under workplace law changes announced on Wednesday. The same package would make it harder for public servants, including emergency services workers, to win compensation for psychological injury, by requiring them to show their workplace was the primary cause.
The proposals were reported by Guardian Australia, whose Queensland state correspondent Ben Smee described the package as the first genuinely high-risk move from a government that has spent almost two years steering around fights that burn political capital.
The psych injury test is the clause to read twice
The strike-breaking power will grab the headlines. The workers’ compensation change is the one that lands on individual pay packets.
Under the proposal as reported, a public sector worker claiming for a psychological injury would only be entitled to support if they can show the workplace was the primary cause of that injury. That’s a different question from whether the job contributed. It shifts the burden onto the claimant to account for everything else going on in their life before the claim gets up.
For anyone on a government payroll, that’s the practical difference between a claim that turns on what happened at work and a claim that turns on proving work outweighed everything else. Current claim rules and the process for lodging one sit with WorkSafe Queensland, and they don’t change until legislation passes.
Law firm Slater and Gordon said the changes would make it harder for Queenslanders to access support for psychological injuries. Several business groups welcomed the package, Guardian Australia reported.
”An underhanded attack”, say the paramedics’ union
The United Workers Union, which represents paramedics and some healthcare workers, called the changes “an underhanded attack on Queensland ambulance officers and other hospital staff”.
Opposition leader Steven Miles went straight for the comparison every Queensland political operator understands, branding the proposals a “Newman-era attack on workers” on Thursday morning.
Bleijie, fronting reporters at Newstead the morning after the announcement, made it clear he’s expecting a brawl.
“You’re going to see a mammoth campaign by the Labor party,” he said.
“It’s going to be a lot of mistruths and misinformation, and I think everything they will be able to say … we will be able to debunk with facts.”
“It’s going to be a lot of mistruths and misinformation, and I think everything they will be able to say … we will be able to debunk with facts.”
Why the numbers make this a different fight
Queensland’s public sector employs more than 320,000 people, Guardian Australia reported in its October 2026 analysis, which is a workforce big enough to function as a political bloc on its own.
That’s the arithmetic behind Smee’s argument. The Guardian’s analysis points out that Premier David Crisafulli and Bleijie both sat through the Campbell Newman years, watched the backlash to proposals to sack public sector workers, and went to the 2024 election talking mainly about crime while keeping the ideological material off the table.
Workplace law doesn’t stay marginal. Hospital orderlies, ambulance officers, school cleaners, and the trades crews who keep state buildings standing up all sit inside that 320,000.
What it means if you’re on the tools
The first thing to work out is which side of the employment line you sit on. As reported, the strike power is aimed at public sector workers, meaning people employed by the state. A subbie swinging a hammer on a government job under a private head contract is employed by their company, not a department.
So the detail worth chasing when the bill text lands is scope: does the power reach only people on a departmental payroll, or does it stretch to workers delivering government work under contract? The announcement, as Guardian Australia described it, didn’t settle that question, and neither did the “public interest” test, which is the kind of phrase that means whatever the legislation says it means.
The second thing is bargaining leverage. Public sector enterprise agreements get negotiated with the possibility of protected industrial action sitting in the background. Take that possibility off the table in defined circumstances and you change the shape of every negotiation that follows, including the ones covering government maintenance and construction staff.
The third is the claim form. If you’re a government-employed tradie, the psych injury threshold is the clause to read before you need it, not after.
None of it is law yet. Watch for the bill’s introduction to parliament, any committee inquiry and submission window attached to it, and the definition the drafters land on for “public interest”. That definition, more than the press conference, decides how much of this actually reaches the people doing the work.
Frequently asked questions
Does the proposed strike-breaking power apply to private contractors on government jobs?
As reported, it targets public sector workers employed directly by the state. Guardian Australia’s report didn’t settle whether it extends to contractors delivering government work, so that scope question stays open until the bill text is released.
What is the ‘primary cause’ test for psychological injury claims?
Under the proposed change, a public sector worker would need to show their workplace was the primary cause of a psychological injury to get compensation, not just a contributing factor, which shifts the burden onto the claimant.
Has this become law yet?
No. It’s currently a policy announcement. The changes would still need to go through parliament, including an expected bill introduction and committee inquiry, before taking effect.
Who has criticised the proposed changes?
The United Workers Union called it “an underhanded attack on Queensland ambulance officers and other hospital staff”, and Opposition Leader Steven Miles branded it a “Newman-era attack on workers”. Law firm Slater and Gordon said it would make it harder for Queenslanders to access psychological injury support.
Sourced from Guardian Australia. Original article.
