Parliamentary Committees

OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY, REHABILITATION AND COMPENSATION COMMITTEE: WORKPLACE INJURIES AND DEATH

Adjourned debate on motion of Hon. B.V. Finnigan:

That the report of the committee, concerning an inquiry into the law and processes relating to workplace injuries and death in South Australia, be noted.

(Continued from 26 September 2007. Page 761.)

The Hon. T.J. STEPHENS (16:46): As the Hon. Bernard Finnigan explained when he discussed this motion, it is an inquiry of the committee into the law and processes relating to workplace injuries and deaths in South Australia. I say at the outset that no-one wants injuries and deaths in the workplace and, while members of this committee sometimes had different views about the best way of preventing this, it would be fair to say that we all had a common goal; that being that our recommendations will help to make South Australian workplaces even safer. As the late great Hon. Mr Nick Xenophon previously explained, rather than going over what the—

An honourable member interjecting:

The Hon. T.J. STEPHENS: He has certainly departed from this place. Rather than going over what the Hon. Mr Finnigan has already covered regarding our work, I will focus on what I consider to be the key aspects of this inquiry. I share the Hon. Mr Xenophon's satisfaction in seeing that the committee agreed that employers ought to be able to test for drugs and alcohol within the workplace. I share the view that this can have a significant impact on changing our culture, where some employees think it is acceptable to attend work under the influence of drugs and alcohol and, in particular, put not only themselves but the health and wellbeing of their work colleagues in jeopardy.

Quite frankly, this is an absolute key to me. What worries me is the culture in our society today, especially with illicit drugs, and that where there is acceptance of illicit drugs people tend to forget that they are, in fact, illegal. I really do not know how we can seriously progress safety in the workplace in a meaningful way without the ability to randomly test for drugs. Before anybody jumps all over me and says, 'That's fine; what about people in your workplace; members of parliament in the parliament?' I can say wholeheartedly that I have no fear whatsoever of being tested for illicit drugs at any time in any place. If, by example, we need to lead the way then I personally wholeheartedly support that.

We are leaders of our community and if it is good enough for us to expect people in industrial situations to be tested for illicit drugs (that is, illegal drugs) then I have no fear whatsoever about members of parliament (and, in particular, myself) being tested for illicit drugs. Having said that, I would like to thank the members of the committee for their work during this inquiry which I believe was conducted pretty much in a spirit of goodwill and in a bipartisan sense, generally.

I thank the Hon. Bernard Finnigan, Mr Tom Kenyon (the member for Newland), Mr Tom Koutsantonis (the member for West Torrens), Mr David Pisoni (the member for Unley), and the Hon. Nick Xenophon, who is now no longer a member of this institution. The secretary of the committee, Mr Rick Crump, and research officer, Ms Kathryn Bion, did a tremendous job. Rick and Kathryn worked particularly hard, and I congratulate them for their efforts. At times the evidence presented to the committee, because of the very nature of the injuries, was confronting and I thank those people for being so professional.

I share the sentiments of the Hon. Nick Xenophon and the Hon. Bernard Finnigan, that all members are as one in working to ensure that these incidents we have learnt about happen rarely and that this inquiry into workplace injury and death will contribute to progressing workplace safety in this state. I commend the report.

The Hon. B.V. FINNIGAN (16:50): I thank honourable members for their contributions and commend the report to members.

Motion carried.