WORKPLACE SAFETY

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS (15:11): I seek leave to make a brief explanation prior to asking the Minister for Industrial Relations a question on the subject of industrial relations.

Leave granted.

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS: Earlier this week in an interview on FIVEaa the minister said—and I quote the transcript:

Look, currently existing legislation provides that people working at heights greater than two metres must put controls in place to mitigate the chance of a worker falling from such a height. This requirement will not change under the new legislation, nor will it impose greater requirements that do not already exist.

My question to the minister is: does he stand by that statement or, to quote an expression used by the minister yesterday, will he try to 'swirm' his way out of it?

The Hon. R.P. WORTLEY (Minister for Industrial Relations, Minister for State/Local Government Relations) (15:11): 'Swirm' is a new one. The only one who mentioned that was me about you, I think. My advice is that if employers are complying with the current laws with regard to working at heights of two metres and over, they are required to put appropriate safeguards there to prevent falls. The other day a young apprentice on his first day on the job fell from a three-storey building and SafeWork has been out there and put some prohibition notices on it, because obviously there were problems with that site.

We do not back off from the fact that we will ensure that the new work health and safety legislation, which will hopefully come to this house in the near future, will provide the appropriate measures to protect workers. If employers are complying currently with the provisions under the occupational health and safety legislation, there is very little change in what they have to do.