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House of Assembly - Fifty-First Parliament, Second Session (51-2)
2008-04-30 Daily Xml
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TRADE UNION MOVEMENT

Ms BEDFORD (Florey) (15:28): Today, I would like to follow on from my last opportunity to speak, at which time I was recounting the circumstances surrounding the 1998 waterfront dispute involving the MUA. The changes workers had already begun to adopt were not enough for some, and the waterfront became a flashpoint for savage reforms, beginning the sorts of changes that the previous Howard federal government's controversial WorkChoices legislation—soundly rejected by the Australian people at the federal election last year—hoped to implement.

Getting the message to Australian workers about how the proposed Howard Liberal legislation would impact on them required much effort over a long period of time, and that work was wholeheartedly supported by the national, union-led 'Your Rights at Work' campaign. The lesson from both the battle on the docks and the defeat of the Howard government and its industrial legislation is clear—governments need to negotiate to achieve reforms. The union movement formed to protect workers rights, to make sure that they had a fair go. It understood that, to have a say in parliament under our system of democracy, it needed to become political and lobby politicians.

While the world, and world politics, has changed, some things have not. In any negotiation, all parties must be involved in a final agreement. While some may not have liked the outcome, at least they took part in what, hopefully, was a democratic process based on sound information and logic. As we saw in the battle for the docks, and as we should by now have learnt from all sorts of major conflicts (including world wars, the Berlin Wall, and the troubles in Ireland), some sort of settlement is eventually reached. The real proof of how well we have read history and learnt from it is how few people get hurt in reaching those agreements.

Speaking of people being hurt, I would like to inform the house of the ecumenical service held with the kind assistance of various church organisations at Pilgrim Uniting Church this week to commemorate workers who have lost their lives on the job. International Workers Memorial Day is marked each year on April 28. Members of Victims of Industrial Death (VOID is its apt acronym), capably led by Andrea Madeley and her committee, along with representatives of the Asbestos Victims Association, the Asbestos Disease Society of South Australia, SA Unions, the government and SafeWork SA all attended.

In his article in The Advertiser that day, Tom Phillips, the presiding member of SafeWork SA's advisory committee, stated that in 2004 the Australian Safety and Compensation Council examined the annual economic cost of workplace injury and illness nationally and valued it at $34.3 billion (5 per cent of GDP), with a further $48.6 billion representing the cost of pain, suffering and early death. Sadly, he notes in the article that there is no reason to believe that things have changed since then.

Workplace safety is a different and separate part of the current debate around changes to WorkCover. Everyone at Monday's church service wants better preventative measures implemented as a priority so that no other family experiences the loss of a loved one as they have suffered and continue to suffer.

Mr Phillips outlines the measures in place, such as the industry improvement program, where workplaces over-represented in workplace claims are identified and worked with to reduce injury. This three-year project modestly aims to reduce by 4 per cent the incidence and cost of work-related injury and illness.

In addition, grants are in place to fund research into workplace health and safety issues, programs to educate school students on occupational health and safety, and a review of training for workplace health and safety reps and occupational health and safety committee members. These measures are in addition to daily monitoring.

In his article, Mr Phillips states that in just one day in South Australia a man's right hand was crushed while cleaning behind a running dough machine; a man was struck on the foot by a large sign he was helping to erect; a man fell from a roof while installing electric cable; a woman's foot was run over by a forklift; and rags ignited in a bin by sparks from a welder four metres away caused trouble. So, members can see that there is plenty of room for improvement.

Workplace safety must be a way of life for all of us every day and in everything we do, both before we start work and while we are on the job. It should not be something we think of only when time and money allow or, worse still, after an accident. South Australia's Strategic Plan sets the goal of reducing workplace injuries by 40 per cent by 2012. If we can do this, numbers at the church service each year will not swell, and it will be, of course, the best way to ensure that WorkCover claims are reduced.

I remind members that May Day will be celebrated tomorrow. We will be holding a dinner with Sharan Burrow from the ACTU, and there will be a march at the weekend. I hope to see many members in attendance with their banners.

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