Larissa Waters Steps Down: What Chronic Illness Means for Your Workplace Rights in Australia

Australian Senator Larissa Waters announced on 28 September 2026 that she is stepping down as leader of the Australian Greens, citing a chronic kidney condition that demands her immediate focus. The announcement is rare in its candour — a senior politician naming a health condition rather than the usual vague references to "personal reasons" — and it has reignited a conversation that millions of Australians navigate in silence: what happens to your career, your income, and your legal rights when a chronic illness forces a major life decision?

A Leader Steps Back

Waters took the Greens leadership in May 2025 and delivered significant legislative wins in a short tenure, including a landmark overhaul of Australia's 25-year-old environment laws — bringing native forest logging under national environmental standards — and co-sponsoring firearms safety reforms that passed in January 2026. She will take a leave of absence from leadership duties while continuing to serve as a Queensland senator once her health allows.

The Greens partyroom is expected to meet within days to elect a new leader. But beyond the political mechanics, Waters' statement resonates with the estimated 1.8 million Australians living with chronic kidney disease, and the roughly 4.4 million Australians of working age who manage a long-term health condition while trying to sustain a career and financial security.

What the Law Actually Protects

Under the Fair Work Act 2009 and the Disability Discrimination Act 1992, Australian employees managing serious illness hold specific, legally enforceable entitlements that the majority of workers are unaware of.

Key provisions include:

Personal and carer's leave: Full-time employees accrue 10 days per year with no upper cap on accumulation. An employee with 10 years of continuous service who has rarely accessed this leave may have up to 100 days banked — a significant buffer during a health crisis.

Unpaid leave for illness: Once paid personal leave is exhausted, employees may request unpaid leave, particularly for documented long-term medical conditions. An employer who simply refuses risks breaching the general protections provisions of the Fair Work Act.

Disability discrimination protections: The Disability Discrimination Act defines "disability" broadly — chronic kidney disease, autoimmune conditions, cardiovascular illness, and many other long-term conditions all qualify. Employers cannot lawfully terminate employment solely because of a health condition that does not affect the employee's capacity to perform the inherent requirements of the role.

Flexible working arrangements: Under Section 65 of the Fair Work Act, employees who have completed 12 months of continuous service and have a disability or serious illness may formally request flexible arrangements — reduced hours, remote work, or changed start times. Critically, the employer must respond in writing within 21 days and can refuse only on "reasonable business grounds" — a threshold the Fair Work Commission interprets narrowly when a medical need is documented.

What most employees don't realise is that the general protections provisions include a reverse onus clause. Once an employee demonstrates that adverse action (dismissal, demotion, cut in hours) occurred, it is the employer who must prove that the action was NOT taken because of the employee's illness or disability. That reversal of the evidentiary burden is a substantial protection that most workers discover only after the fact.

How a Legal Expert Changes the Outcome

When chronic illness meets employment, the legal landscape becomes complex quickly. The intersection of the Fair Work Act, the National Disability Insurance Scheme, income protection insurance, superannuation total and permanent disability (TPD) provisions, and state-based workers' compensation schemes creates overlapping entitlements — and overlapping traps.

An employment lawyer can assess which entitlements apply to your specific situation: whether your condition meets the relevant legislative definitions, whether your employer's response to a flexible work request has been lawful, and what remedies are available if you have already experienced adverse treatment. Importantly, many of these rights have hard deadlines — a general protections application must be lodged within 21 days of dismissal, and missing that window can permanently extinguish the claim.

For superannuation TPD matters, a specialist in financial advice or insurance law can identify whether a claim is viable before the insurer's objections solidify into a denial. The average successful TPD payout in Australia is between $150,000 and $600,000 depending on policy terms and account balance — yet the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) has found that a substantial number of eligible claimants never apply, typically because they did not know they qualified.

If You Were That Nurse: A Concrete Case

Consider Amara, a 38-year-old registered nurse at a public hospital in western Sydney. Like Senator Waters, she has been managing stage 3 chronic kidney disease for two years. Her nephrologist has documented that she should reduce from five shifts per week to three to manage fatigue and attend regular dialysis-monitoring appointments.

Her employer initially refused the schedule change, citing rostering constraints. Here is what changes when she consults an employment lawyer before accepting that refusal:

• Amara has nine years of continuous service — well above the 12-month minimum under Section 65. Her formal written request for flexible working arrangements must be answered within 21 days.
• The hospital can only refuse on reasonable business grounds. A documented specialist recommendation for reduced hours is rarely considered a reasonable basis for outright refusal. Partial accommodations (e.g., reducing to four shifts rather than three) may satisfy the obligation, but they must be offered and explained in writing.
• Because chronic kidney disease meets the definition of disability, Amara's employer also carries a separate duty under the Disability Discrimination Act to make "reasonable adjustments." A schedule change supported by a nephrologist's letter is almost always a reasonable adjustment in the healthcare sector.
• If she is dismissed or constructively forced to resign, she has 21 days to file a general protections application. A successful claim can yield up to 26 weeks' pay in compensation, plus the possibility of reinstatement.
• Her income protection cover, likely embedded in her standard superannuation fund, may provide up to 75% of gross salary if she becomes unable to work full-time — but only if the claim is lodged correctly and the insurer's standard pushback is handled by someone who knows the policy wording.

If Amara navigates this alone and gets any of these steps wrong — accepting a redundancy without legal advice, missing the 21-day window, or failing to document her flexible work request in writing — she could lose entitlements worth substantially more than the cost of an initial consultation.

Superannuation and the TPD Question Nobody Asks

One area where specialist advice is most urgently underused is superannuation TPD claims. Many Australians assume that "total and permanent disability" means they can never work at all. Under many standard "own occupation" definitions, it means they can no longer work in their own occupation for six consecutive months or more.

If a chronic kidney condition prevents a nurse, a teacher, or a tradesperson from performing their usual role for six months — even if they could theoretically take a desk job — they may already qualify for a TPD payout. Yet APRA data suggests that a significant share of eligible claimants never lodge a claim.

A superannuation lawyer or financial adviser specialising in claims can review policy documents across every fund an individual holds (many Australians hold multiple accounts from previous employers), assess whether the clinical picture meets the insurer's definitions, and manage the insurer's standard objections through to the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA) if necessary.

According to the Fair Work Ombudsman, employers and employees both have clearly defined obligations around personal leave and medical evidence — but knowing those obligations exist is the first step.

What to Do If Illness Is Affecting Your Work

Employment and financial experts recommend this sequence for Australians managing chronic illness in the workplace:

1. Get specialist documentation now. A written report from your treating doctor or specialist — naming the diagnosis, prognosis, and recommended work adjustments — is the foundation of every legal and insurance claim you may need later.
2. Know your leave balance before a crisis. Request your personal/carer's leave balance in writing from your employer or HR system. Some enterprise agreements, particularly in healthcare, education, and public service, offer leave entitlements well above the Fair Work Act minimum.
3. Make flexible work requests in writing. An oral request carries no legal weight under Section 65. The request must be in writing, must state the change sought, and must explain the medical reason.
4. Never sign a separation agreement without legal advice. Employers sometimes offer "voluntary" redundancies or exit packages to employees whose health is affecting performance. These agreements routinely include general release clauses that waive your rights under the general protections provisions — sometimes for a payment worth far less than the claim you are signing away.
5. Review every superannuation account for income protection and TPD cover. Log into myGov and the ATO's super search tool to locate all accounts. Check the product disclosure statement for each fund. Many Australians hold insurance they don't know they have.

Senator Waters' decision to name her condition publicly rather than retreating behind a diplomatic form of words has done something quiet and useful: it has made it slightly easier for the next Australian with chronic kidney disease, multiple sclerosis, or an autoimmune condition to speak about their situation at work without shame — and to ask whether they are getting everything the law entitles them to.

Disclaimer: This article is for general information only and does not constitute legal or financial advice. If your health condition is affecting your employment or financial entitlements, seek advice from a qualified employment lawyer or financial adviser before acting.

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