House of Assembly - Fifty-Third Parliament, First Session (53-1)
2014-12-04 Daily Xml

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SafeWork SA Regional Offices

Mr WHETSTONE (Chaffey) (15:47): Supplementary: going through the process to make that decision, was there a regional impact assessment study undertaken to make an assessment or a decision on whether they will close or remain open?

The Hon. J.R. RAU (Enfield—Deputy Premier, Attorney-General, Minister for Justice Reform, Minister for Planning, Minister for Housing and Urban Development, Minister for Industrial Relations) (15:47): I thank the honourable member for his question. The question that the honourable member is asking I am taking to be a reference specifically to SafeWork as opposed to the whole safe workplace process that I was trying to speak about. Again, that is a very particular question. I will get an answer about that as well because, as I am trying to explain, I think it is important for members to know. The member for Chaffey has asked this question and he is obviously interested in it and it is an important question. SafeWork SA provides a—

Ms Redmond interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Heysen is warned.

The Hon. J.R. RAU: The SafeWork SA people provide a number of services, including, for example, the investigation of accidents and that sort of thing. The point I am trying to make is, if we are concerned about safe workplaces, which I know the member for Chaffey and all of us in this room are, I believe, then it is not just the inspectorate, if you like, that is part of that package; it is also the risk management messages that are going out to the workplaces and going to the workers, the fairly simple stuff you might think. For example, if you are working on a construction site then have the hard shoes on, have the hat on and have the protective glasses on—pretty basic stuff like that, but very important because, if people do not do that, you wind up with completely unnecessary injuries in the workplace.

I am just trying to make the point that it is a bigger proposition than simply the inspectorate, but I will take on board the questions that have been asked by the honourable member about the inspectorate part of it and I will endeavour to get an answer for him as quickly as possible.