OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY LAWS

The Hon. J.M. GAZZOLA (15:08): My question is to the Minister for Industrial Relations. Will the minister update the chamber on the national harmonisation of occupational health and safety laws?

The Hon. B.V. FINNIGAN (Minister for Industrial Relations, Minister for State/Local Government Relations, Minister for Gambling) (15:09): I thank the honourable member for his question. As a former employee representative, I know that he would take a keen interest in occupational health and safety legislation, as I am sure many honourable members in this chamber do.

South Australia has very much been a leader in the national occupational health and safety harmonisation process. For the first time in Australia a harmonised national occupational health and safety system is in sight, which will provide more clarity and certainty for employers and workers and reduced red tape for business. Since the Council of Australian Governments' intergovernmental agreement on the reform of occupational health and safety laws was signed in July 2008, considerable progress has been made towards the objective of a national harmonised occupational health and safety system.

The work towards a harmonised national system of uniform legislation, regulations and codes of practice will ensure that businesses operating across jurisdictions will face less regulatory duplication associated with compliance in multiple systems. The national system is intended to harmonise occupational health and safety laws so that they are consistently enforced between regulators to enable better partnership with industry and business and to minimise the risks of workplace injuries and deaths.

On 1 November 2009, Safe Work Australia was established to drive the national harmonisation process and the development of a model act and regulations. Mr Tom Phillips, a Member of the Order of Australia who is the Presiding Member of the SafeWork SA Advisory Committee, chairs the Safe Work Australia Council. Ms Michele Patterson, Executive Director of SafeWork SA, is South Australia's representative on the council. So, South Australia has very much played a leading role in the development of the national draft laws.

Following an extensive public consultation process, the Workplace Relations Ministers' Council endorsed the Model Work Health and Safety Act in December 2009. Safe Work Australia released the final version of the model act on 29 April 2010, as I understand. Throughout the process, relevant South Australian parties have been actively involved and consulted, particularly through the SafeWork SA Advisory Committee, a tripartite body which, of course, includes representatives from the state's peak employer associations, business groups and unions.

The model act will be supported by model regulations and priority codes of practice that are currently available for a period of public comment that will continue until 4 April this year. I believe the model regulations and priority codes of practice can be viewed on the Safe Work Australia website. The model act includes a number of innovations that will benefit both businesses and workers. The scope of the model act has been modernised and expanded to include a wider coverage of contemporary work relationships.

Duties to ensure health and safety will now be held by persons conducting a business or undertaking, and their officers, to ensure that the act covers persons who control workplaces, contractors, suppliers, designers, manufacturers and importers, not just employers. This more modern and streamlined approach creates a wider net of protection for workers and ensures that responsibility for workplace safety is shared by all those who conduct work, including workers themselves.

These clearer, modernised responsibilities, together with consistent regulation across jurisdictions, will ensure less ambiguity between duty holders and greater protection for workers. Tougher penalties will ensure that those who risk work and safety are held to proper account. The harmonisation process represents an innovative approach to public policy, enabling the introduction of a nationally consistent system while at the same time maintaining local arrangements and continuing the role of local institutions such as the Industrial Relations Court and the SafeWork SA Advisory Committee.

The parliament will maintain its oversight over these laws, and the nationally consistent system will be achieved without ceding power to the commonwealth government. Harmonisation does not require a referral of powers as they relate to occupational health and safety matters. The aim is to have new, nationally consistent occupational health and safety laws in place in all Australian states and territories by 1 January 2012.

To achieve this in our jurisdiction, I intend to introduce in parliament the South Australian bill to enact the model act in the coming months. The bill will include provisions specific to South Australia which will ensure that the model act operates within local judicial and legal frameworks. The local provisions have been developed in consultation with peak employer representatives and unions through the Legislative Development Committee, a subcommittee of the SafeWork SA Advisory Committee.

The model regulations are expected to be finalised at a national level by June 2011, to allow the states and territories time to progress their adoption in time for the 1 January 2012 commencement date. I welcome the progress that has been made on this matter by the commonwealth, states and territories, which will continue to ensure that this government plays a leading role in advocating for the higher safety standards in South Australian workplaces as part of these significant national developments.

This approach can, of course, be very much contrasted with that of the previous federal Liberal government which, in using the WorkChoices legislation, pretty much bludgeoned all of the states and anyone else involved in the industrial relations sector, imposing on them a new national system whether they liked it or not. The Labor government at the national level and our own government have instead taken part in a very constructive process that is far more likely to lead to agreed outcomes and to consensus and support across industry, on both the employer and union side of the equation, so that we have the most effective regime possible.