Work Health and Safety (Prosecutions Under Repealed Act) Amendment Bill

Introduction and First Reading

The Hon. J.R. RAU (Enfield—Deputy Premier, Attorney-General, Minister for Justice Reform, Minister for Planning, Minister for Housing and Urban Development, Minister for Industrial Relations, Minister for Child Protection Reform) (11:08): Obtained leave and introduced a bill for an act to amend the Work Health and Safety Act 2012. Read a first time.

Second Reading

The Hon. J.R. RAU (Enfield—Deputy Premier, Attorney-General, Minister for Justice Reform, Minister for Planning, Minister for Housing and Urban Development, Minister for Industrial Relations, Minister for Child Protection Reform) (11:09): I move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

On 3 December 2014, I informed the house of my intention to introduce a bill into the next parliament to amend the transitional provisions of the Work Health and Safety Act 2012. The Work Health and Safety Act (Prosecutions under Repealed Act) Amendment Bill 2015 seeks to insert a new transitional provision into the Work Health and Safety Act to allow the minister to extend the time to commence proceedings for an offence under the now repealed Occupational Health, Safety and Welfare Act 1986. This amendment will allow two prosecutions under the repealed act to proceed. Both deal with serious workplace incidents which resulted in a fatality in one case and serious head injuries to a worker in the other.

I seek leave to have the remainder of the second reading explanation inserted in Hansard without my reading it.

Leave granted.

Last year I became aware of a technical error in the filing of the complaints for these two matters.

The nature of the error meant that it was not possible to correct it by simple amendment of the complaints. The only way to continue with these prosecutions is to file fresh complaints, making the same allegations, with the error corrected.

However, the statutory limit under the repealed act has since expired on each of these matters, which prevents the prosecution from proceeding under the existing complaint.

For these prosecutions not to proceed, due to a technicality, is unacceptable.

The only way of resolving this issue is to extend the statutory time limit.

The bill will achieve this by amending the Work Health and Safety Act to allow the minister, if he or she considers that it is in the interests of justice to do so, extend a time limit that applies under section 58(6)(b) of the repealed act in a particular case.

It is my view that it is in the interests of justice that these two matters have the opportunity to proceed to a judicial determination on the merits on the case.

I have received advice from SafeWork SA, that there are no other proceedings under the OHSW Act that have been impacted by this technical error.

I commend the bill to members.

Explanation of Clauses

Part 1—Preliminary

1—Short title

2—Amendment provisions

These clauses are formal.

Part 2—Amendment of Work Health and Safety Act 2012

3—Amendment of Schedule 6—Transitional provisions

This clause inserts a new clause into Schedule 6 of the act. The proposed clause authorises the minister to extend a time limit that applies under section 58(6)(b) of the Occupational Health, Safety and Welfare Act 1986 (the repealed Act) if he or she considers that it is in the interests of justice to do so. Section 58(6)(b) provides that proceedings for a summary offence against the act must be commenced within two years of the date on which the offence is alleged to have been committed. A time limit may only be extended under the proposed clause for the purpose of allowing proceedings to be brought against a person for an offence against the repealed act where proceedings previously commenced against the person for the offence have been brought to an end because the person who purported to bring them was not authorised to do so.

An extension may be authorised by the minister even if the time limit for commencing proceedings under the repealed act has passed. The clause authorises the commencement of proceedings against a person who has already been the subject of proceedings (or purported proceedings) under the repealed act with respect to the same matter.

Debate adjourned on motion of Mr Gardner.