One of the authors of a damning report into the re-emergence of Black Lung disease among Queensland coalminers says senior officers in the mines department should resign over the issue.
Labor MP Jo-Ann Miller pointed the finger at top bureaucrats after the report, released on Monday, found a "catastrophic failure" of the systems meant to protect them.
The Coal Workers' Pneumoconiosis Select Committee report made 68 recommendations, chief among them the setting up of a Mine Safety and Health Authority, to be based in Mackay.
Committee chair Ms Miller said the authority would take over responsibility for mine workers safety from the mines department, which presided over the systems designed to protect workers.
She said serving departmental officers who have been in senior positions over the course of the issue should resign.
"The health surveillance unit within the department completely failed," Ms Miller told AAP.
"If they had implemented the recommendations of the 2002 review (into miner's health and safety) we may not be in the position we are today."
Queensland Mines Minister Dr Anthony Lynham on Monday admitted grave mistakes had been made in the past, but still defended his staff's handling of the situation.
"My staff have been working tirelessly since before the first report (was handed down)," Dr Lynham told reporters on Monday.
"We wouldn't be in the position we are today, with all these measures already implemented, if it wasn't for the hard work of my department."
Meantime, the opposition accused the Labor government of "opposing" the inquiry.
Liberal National Party frontbencher Scott Emerson saying they had called for an inquiry into Black Lung but Labor had "ignored" them until recently.
Since its "re-emergence" two years ago, 21 Queensland miners have been diagnosed with the pneumoconiosis.
However it's now believed the disease never went away, and its "eradication" for 30 years was simply misdiagnosis and under-reporting.
The government has already put a number of measures in place to improve safety standards and detection of the condition, including double-checking of chest X-rays by specialists.
Headed by Ms Miller and former LNP leader Lawrence Springborg, the committee was granted sweeping powers to draft its own legislation on the matter, with that legislation expected to be introduced to state parliament in August.
The committee was also given extended terms of reference to investigate possible health effects on other workers, in particular those on Brisbane's numerous tunnel projects who could be at risk of silicosis, a condition similar to Black Lung.
A second report into those expanded terms of reference is due on September 29.
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