Question Time

SafeWork SA

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Leader of the Opposition) (14:20): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Treasurer a question about SafeWork SA.

Leave granted.

The Hon. K.J. MAHER: In the recently handed down budget, specifically Budget Paper 4, Volume 4, it outlines a reduction of around 40 staff at SafeWork SA. At the same time, the budget papers estimate that the number of compliance and enforcement visits will remain constant, with a projection of around 19,000. Former employees of SafeWork SA have presented submissions to the recent ICAC evaluation of SafeWork SA and they list a range of issues that were not best practice and highlighting that one of the reasons was an insufficient number of staff. My question is: how does the Treasurer expect SafeWork SA to meet this and other activity indicators and its obligations while so severely slashing the number of staff at SafeWork SA?

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS (Treasurer) (14:21): I think the honourable member is quite right to say that under the former Labor government there were indeed very significant management and operational problems under SafeWork SA. It's a shame on the honourable member, as a member of the cabinet, that SafeWork SA arrived at the situation where the ICAC commissioner deemed it so serious that he had to undertake an evaluation of the operations of SafeWork SA. We, and I am sure all of us collectively, await the final determination of the ICAC commissioner in relation to what suggestions he might make for the future operations. The honourable former minister is correct to say that the former government's operations of SafeWork SA are deserving certainly of comprehensive condemnation.

In relation to the budget savings task, the advice that I have been provided with is that the critical inspectorial staff will be protected from the savings that have to be implemented through SafeWork SA, which is essentially one of the key components of the work of SafeWork SA, and I'm happy to take on advice and bring back a more detailed response. I think the new director or CEO of SafeWork SA, in his publicly reported evidence, indicated that from his viewpoint there were widespread problems in terms of financial management practices which he was setting about correcting. These were financial management practices sadly allowed to continue under the former Labor government and indicative of some of the problems that not only that agency confronted but also many other agencies.

He was setting about making changes; some related to usage of resources such as government-provided cars. There is a range of initiatives that he believed could be instituted to achieve savings on behalf of the taxpayers without impacting on the core work that SafeWork SA needs to undertake. Nevertheless, I think the important issue, in relation to SafeWork SA, will be for all of us to await the recommendations of the ICAC commissioner, which in essence will be an evaluation of the performance, creditworthy or otherwise, of SafeWork SA under the former Labor government.