WORK HEALTH AND SAFETY CODES OF PRACTICE REVIEW

Adjourned debate on motion of Hon. K.J. Maher:

That this council urges the Minister for Industrial Relations—

1. To refer for further review the codes of practice under the Work Health and Safety Act 2012, made on 20 December 2012 and laid on the table of this council on 19 February 2013, viz.:

Construction Work Code of Practice;

Preventing Falls in Housing Construction Code of Practice; and

Safe Design of Structures Code of Practice

to the Small Business Commissioner.

2. To ensure that the review includes further consultation with relevant groups of the construction sector including the Housing Industry Association, the Master Builders Association and small builders.

3. To require a report to the minister containing recommendations to improve the above-mentioned codes and to table such report in parliament as soon as is reasonably practicable.

(Continued from 25 September 2013.)

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS (16:03): The genesis for this particular motion was a motion I moved some time ago now that various codes of practice under the work health safety legislation be disallowed. The government, through the Hon. Mr Maher, has moved this motion that they be referred to the Small Business Commissioner for advice, rather than disallowing. The cynics in the community would suggest that this was a device by the government to, in essence, prevent a final decision or vote on the disallowance of the codes of practice, because the government ministers and advisers knew that, if they could put off a vote on the disallowance motions, we only have now another 11 sitting days, unless the government takes up the optional week. I guess it is highly unlikely, given the current political climate, that the government will take up the optional sitting week.

So, in those 11 sitting days, if ultimately there has been no response from the Small Business Commissioner prior to that last week, then those members who still have to form a view about the disallowance motion would be none the wiser. The Small Business Commissioner and the government would still be considering it and there would be no opportunity to disallow the codes of practice. The Clerk's advice to members is that when the parliament is prorogued for an election, the opportunity for the parliament to disallow the codes of practice disappears if it has not been voted on prior to that last opportunity on the last Wednesday of sitting.

It is clear the government was quite aware of that and this was a device or an attempt to refer it off to the Small Business Commissioner and then ultimately, if the parliament wanted to express a stronger view to the government to say that these particular codes are too onerous, they are unacceptable in their current form and need to be removed and offensive provisions deleted, then they can be brought down in an amended form. Of course, that is the only option available to the government.

There is nothing in the Hon. Mr Maher's motion which requires the government to take any action as a result of the report from the Small Business Commissioner. The government has to table such a report as soon as reasonably practicable but, of course, if the parliament is prorogued, that will mean that it will not be tabled until the parliament first sits after the next election which might be in normal terms in April or May of next year.

The Hon. Mr Darley has flagged a sensible amendment which in essence is, rather than giving the government a blank cheque to say as soon as reasonably practicable, he has indicated that the government's intention through the Small Business Commissioner is to bring back the results of this particular investigation no later than Wednesday 13 November. That will then allow those members who are still to form a view in relation to these codes of practice to consider the advice of the Small Business Commissioner, any further advice from the government, and I suspect also advice from industry associations and stakeholders in relation to the merit or otherwise of the codes of practice, and then the disallowance motion which I am leaving on the books—and I will not move that until the last Wednesday of sitting. We will have an opportunity then to test the feeling of the Legislative Council in relation to whether or not there is support or otherwise for the codes of practice.

I must say that the government's approach is in my view a silly approach because if there had been a position where the codes had been disallowed the government could have remade the codes after further consultation and promulgated new codes of practice if it so chose and there would still have been plenty of time for some further consultation and discussion prior to the parliament being prorogued just prior to the next election. Anyway, that is the government's choice. They have chosen to go down this particular path, so on behalf of Liberal members I indicate that we will be supporting the Hon. Mr Darley's amendment; that is, to put in a specific time and if that is amended, we will be quite happy to support the motion. As I said, we will leave our disallowance motion for determination on the last Wednesday of sitting.

The Hon. J.A. DARLEY (16:09): I move to amend the motion as follows:

In paragraph 3, leave out 'as soon as is reasonably practicable' and insert 'by no later than Wednesday, 13 November 2013'.

As the Hon. Rob Lucas has mentioned, the purpose of the amendment is to give the council time to receive the recommendation of the commissioner and if we are not satisfied with that, or the actions of the government, we still have time to disallow the regulations.

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (16:10): Just briefly, I rise to indicate that the government will be supporting the Hon. John Darley's amendment. I wish to place on the record my appreciation and thanks to the Hon. Rob Lucas, who is sensibly supporting the government's motion as amended.

Amendment carried; motion as amended carried.