WORK HEALTH AND SAFETY BILL

Committee Stage

In committee.

(Continued from 6 September 2012.)

Clause 1.

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS: I move:

That the committee report progress.

The committee divided on the motion:

Majority of 1 for the noes.

Motion thus negatived.

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS: Can the minister indicate what the government's current intentions are in relation to the commencement date, should the parliament pass either the model bill or an amended version of the bill? When does the government believe it will be implementing the legislation in South Australia?

The Hon. R.P. WORTLEY: The intention is that the commencement date will be 1 January 2013, and for any new issues involved in this legislation there will be a transition period of 12 months.

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS: Can the minister indicate what commitments he has given to individual industry sectors in relation to potential impacts on their industry and delays in particular provisions of the legislation applying to their particular industry sectors?

The Hon. R.P. WORTLEY: The government has given no undertakings to any sector of the industry. The only commitment we have is to work with industry through an education campaign to ensure that business and unions—their membership, the objects of the legislation and every other aspect of work health and safety legislation—are fully conversant with the legislation.

The Hon. S.G. WADE: In relation to the minister's answer to the question from the Hon. Mr Lucas about commencement, when the minister says there will be transitional arrangements for some elements, will that be transitioned in the sense that some provisions will commence on 1 January 2013 and other elements will have commencement dates 12 months later, or is there some other transitional arrangement the minister is adverting to?

The Hon. R.P. WORTLEY: Yes, that is correct. There are some elements to this legislation which are new, so there is an arrangement that a transitional period of 12 months will be given for employers to familiarise themselves with the act.

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS: Can the minister indicate which particular sections of the proposed bill will be delayed and operational on a date later than 1 January 2013?

The Hon. R.P. WORTLEY: The provisions in the regulations will have a transitional period, and the actual bill itself will be kept intact.

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS: What commitments has the minister given in relation to regulations to any particular industry sector or to industry in general in relation to a delayed implementation of particular aspects of the regulations?

The Hon. R.P. WORTLEY: It has been made known to business exactly what the transitional period would be. That has not been an issue between businesses and government. The government has made it quite clear that they will work with business during the transition period. As members would be aware, the vast majority of business supports this legislation going through. As I said, it only seems to be issue for the Hon. Mr Lucas.

The Hon. S.G. WADE: Considering that the transition element of the package will be managed through the regulations, can the minister advise when the draft regulations will be released and when final regulations will be promulgated?

The Hon. R.P. WORTLEY: The draft regulations are available now and they will be promulgated on 1 January 2013.

The Hon. S.G. WADE: I am trying to anticipate businesses being confident that on 1 January they know their responsibilities fully. Is the minister indicating that the draft regulations as they are now will be promulgated on 1 January, or does the government anticipate further revisions as a result of consultation or the like?

The Hon. R.P. WORTLEY: No. I will just make it quite clear that this is not new legislation. These regulations and the legislation have been negotiated on tripartite committees for quite a number of years now. There are no surprises to business about what is in the regulations, but there is no intention to make any changes between now and then.

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS: Can I just clarify that? My understanding was that some of the negotiations the minister was conducting with the Hon. Mr Darley and, indeed, others necessitated changes to the regulations that had been drafted and put out generally. Is the minister indicating now that he has given no commitment to the Hon. Mr Darley or, indeed, any other member or any industry sector about changes in relation to the regulations?

The Hon. R.P. WORTLEY: As of this minute now, there has been no undertaking about changing regulations.

The Hon. R.I. Lucas: What do you mean by 'as of this minute'?

The Hon. R.P. WORTLEY: Right now. I have made no commitment, right up to this very minute, to make changes to the regulations.

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS: Is the minister indicating that, in emphasising that as of now he has given no commitment to either an individual member of this chamber or to an industry sector about a change of regulations, he is currently negotiating changes in regulations which may well mean that the regulations that are promulgated on 1 January will be different to the ones that we have seen at the moment?

The Hon. R.P. WORTLEY: The Hon. Mr Darley has indicated that there is an issue with regards to strata titles. We have not given any commitment to make changes to the regulations, so that is it.

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS: Is the minister indicating that that is the only area in relation to the regulations that he is negotiating potential changes to? In particular, I ask him whether or not he has had any discussions in relation to changes in regulations in relation to the issue of falls and heights?

The Hon. R.P. WORTLEY: Let me make something quite clear: it has been put to me that we increase the height level from two metres to three metres. That is unacceptable to the government and there will be no change to the regulations with regards to that height level.

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS: I just want to be quite clear as to the guarantee the minister has put on the record in this chamber; that is, if this bill passes this chamber in this particular form with the government's amendments, there is no provision in this model bill which is proposed to be amended by the government that will not be operational on 1 January 2013. So, the bill with all its clauses will be implemented in its entirety at the one time. There will be no staged or phased proclamation of provisions of the legislation.

The Hon. R.P. WORTLEY: There will be some staged introduction of certain regulations in regards to provisions for major hazard facilities, high-risk construction work and high-risk work licences. They will either be staged or the vast majority will have a 12-month transition.

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS: Can the minister indicate what particular clauses in the legislation will not be implemented on 1 January 2013 and then, secondly, what particular date they will be implemented on? Will it be 1 January 2014 or some date between those two dates?

The Hon. R.P. WORTLEY: Clauses within the bill are in accordance with the national harmonised legislation, so we will be seeking to have them introduced in their entirety from 1 January 2013.

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS: If the minister could clarify: I understood his previous answer to indicate certain clauses. I asked him whether all of the bill in its entirety would be proclaimed at the same time on 1 January. He came back and indicated that various provisions would not be.

The Hon. R.P. Wortley: Regulations.

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS: Okay. My question was not in relation to the regulations: it was firstly in relation to the legislation. Is it the government's commitment that if it is in a position to proclaim the bill on 1 January 2013, it will be proclaiming the whole of the bill—it will not be, as government can sometimes, proclaiming most of the bill but not proclaiming certain provisions and delaying the operation of those provisions until some later date?

The Hon. R.P. WORTLEY: The intention of the government is to proclaim the bill in its entirety from 1 January 2013. This is an expectation that has been put on us by business, unions, and volunteers. They are all looking to have this legislation by 1 January 2013.

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS: I thank the minister for that clarification. Can the minister just now again clarify the answer he gave to my question earlier, where he was referring to regulations? Can he now repeat which aspects of the regulations are not intended to be proclaimed for 1 January 2013 but will be delayed, and for each of those, what is the particular date that the government intends for them to be proclaimed?

The Hon. R.P. WORTLEY: Yes, there is a number of new provisions and responsibilities in the regulations. They will be phased in and they will be given 12 months. Three of them I have already mentioned, but there is a number, so what we will do is we will seek to get those regulations to you and let you know which ones they are.

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS: I thank the minister for that. If he could provide an indication of which particular regulations will not be operational from 1 January, then clearly the converse of that argument is that all the other regulations in the draft regulations are to be operational from 1 January 2013. I have seen public statements from those concerned about asbestos regulation that the minister and the government had given that sector commitments.

Given the minister has just indicated he has given no commitments to any industry sector, is he in a position to throw any light as to why they would believe that the minister and the government had given some commitments in relation to the impact of the legislation and the regulations on asbestos issues in South Australia? Indeed, I think the minister referred to aspects of that. I do not have his second reading response with me, but my recollection is he referred in some respects to commitments that he had given to that particular industry sector.

The Hon. R.P. WORTLEY: We have given an undertaking that we will continue to air monitor asbestos removal when it comes to non-friable asbestos. We have also given an undertaking to the senior officers' group for South Australia to lobby to have that put into the regulations after the review. We have also given a commitment that we take it so seriously that we will make it a condition of licensing for asbestos removal that air monitoring is continued for non-friable asbestos removal.

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS: Then on that, is the minister indicating that that will not require any amendment to the bill, the regulations or any of the codes of practice that will operate from 1 January 2013?

The Hon. R.P. WORTLEY: No; there will be no change at all to the act.

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS: I also asked whether there will be any changes to the regulations or to the codes of practices they would apply to the industry?

The Hon. R.P. WORTLEY: We have already changed the regulations, so South Australia actually complies with those conditions. As I have said, this is a commitment that we have given with regard to ensuring that the monitoring of asbestos removal and the standards are not reduced. We have a very strong commitment to asbestos removal and doing it in a safe way. There will be no changes from now on to the regulations, unless we can negotiate it through the senior officers group because we believe it should be on a national level, but it will be a condition of our licensing provisions for people removing asbestos.

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS: Is the minister indicating that the regulations that will apply in South Australia will not be the model regulations as adopted at the national level, that South Australia has amended those regulations as they apply to this particular industry sector?

The Hon. R.P. WORTLEY: The regulations mirror the national regulations, but we have incorporated a provision for air monitoring—we have made it tougher—for the removal of non-friable asbestos.

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS: I think the minister is there confirming that we are not implementing the model regulations relating to this area, we are implementing our own regulations relating to this industry sector. Can the minister take on notice or through his adviser indicate which particular section of the proposed regulations in South Australia are different in this respect to the national regulations?

The Hon. R.P. WORTLEY: I will take that on notice.

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS: Can the minister indicate which other sections of the regulations that he says will apply in South Australia from 1 January 2013 (in just over three months) are different to the model regulations that were agreed at the national level?

The Hon. R.P. WORTLEY: The regulations we will be proclaiming will be consistent with that of the model regulations.

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS: Is the minister saying that the only difference between the regulations in South Australia and the model regulations at the national level is the regulation change relating to asbestos?

The Hon. R.P. WORTLEY: Yes; other than jurisdictional notes which accommodate the machinery of government.

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS: Could you repeat that?

The Hon. R.P. WORTLEY: Other than jurisdictional notes which incorporates the machinery of government.

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS: Can I just clarify: whatever 'jurisdictional notes' refers to, does that refer to any other industry sector in South Australia other than asbestos?

The Hon. R.P. WORTLEY: It is just like we call the SafeWork advisory committee the SafeWork SA Advisory Committee. Each state has a different name. It is the machinery of government (the various namings) but no actual change to industry regulations.

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS: Has the abalone industry made representations to the minister and/or SafeWork SA of concerns it has relating to both the bill and the regulations and the impact on the abalone industry, and, if so, what, if any, response did the minister provide to them?

The Hon. R.P. WORTLEY: There have been some representations in regard to the diving regulations. There are some technical issues there which are being sorted through. They are mainly about their licensing. We are working through these with the diving industry.

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS: Is the minister indicating that there has been no commitment to that industry sector in relation to any change either in the regulations or the codes of practice that would apply to the industry?

The Hon. R.P. WORTLEY: Certainly, there has been no commitment in regard to the regulations but there has been a commitment to accommodate them through the code of practice.

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS: There are obviously many issues in relation to clauses 1 and 2 which I will need to raise but I want to make a general point at this stage in relation to proceeding in the committee stage of this debate. The first point I want to make is that, at this stage, while the Liberal Party has circulated its amendments to various stakeholders and I think the government and other members have a copy, we have not tabled our amendments for the committee stage of the debate. There are some 15 or 20 pages of amendments.

We have not taken the government's amendments to our party room because we were advised that the government was negotiating with the Hon. Mr Darley and that the Hon. Mr Darley was going to be moving amendments in his name different to those that the government was moving. It was the Liberal Party's procedure that we were going to take to our party room, both the government's amendments and the Hon. Mr Darley's amendments and then decide whether we support either the government's amendments or the Hon. Mr Darley's amendments.

So, in terms of the processing of this bill, as I said, there are a million questions that we can proceed with but ultimately the position in relation to amendments is that, as I understand it Mr Chairman, you have the amendments from the Hon. Ms Franks and the government but you do not have 15 or 20 pages of amendments from the Liberal Party or any amendments from the Hon. Mr Darley in relation to these issues.

Progress reported; committee to sit again.