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Legislative Council - Fifty-Second Parliament, First Session (52-1)
2010-05-06 Daily Xml
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MINE SAFETY

The Hon. R.P. WORTLEY (16:06): My question is for the Minister for Mineral Resources Development, regarding mine safety in South Australia. With the fast expansion of the mining industry in South Australia, how is the state government encouraging the adoption of best practice in mine safety?

The Hon. P. HOLLOWAY (Minister for Mineral Resources Development, Minister for Urban Development and Planning, Minister for Industrial Relations, Minister Assisting the Premier in Public Sector Management) (16:07): The inaugural South Australian Mines Emergency Response Competition dinner was held at the weekend, and I was delighted to be asked to present trophies to the winners. The competition, which is hosted by the South Australian Chamber of Mines and Energy, comprised teams from interstate and South Australia, pitted against each other to test their mine rescue skills.

The competition was held at both the Angas zinc mine near Strathalbyn and also at the CFS Training Centre at Brukunga, which, of course, is adjacent to the former pyrite mine, in the Adelaide Hills. Teams spent a day at each facility. Wearing full rescue gear, including breathing apparatus and going into an underground mine at Strathalbyn, three teams from BHP Billiton's Olympic Dam mine, Terramin Australia's Angas zinc mine and OZ Minerals' Prominent Hill mine competed against teams from Victoria and New South Wales—Perilya from Broken Hill and also the company that operates the gold mine at Stawell in Victoria.

With an increasing number of mines now operating in South Australia, this event further emphasised South Australia's commitment to improving mine safety. Competitions such as the Mines Emergency Competition are important exercises as they encourage the resources industry to hone their mine rescue skills. These skills will allow South Australia to strive to meet its goal of achieving Australia's lowest mine incident rate.

South Australia has been instrumental in the development of nationally consistent mine safety regulations through the release of the discussion paper entitled Development of Nationally Consistent Mine Safety Regulations for South Australia. SafeWork SA developed the proposals contained in the discussion paper in consultation with experts from Primary Industries and Resources South Australia.

The consultation period on the discussion paper closed on 6 April 2010 and SafeWork SA is collating and analysing the 13 submissions received from stakeholders. An initial review of the submissions has identified that stakeholders are generally supportive of the process of national harmonisation and of the principles used in the development of the proposals in the discussion paper. Most of the concerns raised, particularly by small and medium size operators, have been about the proposed safety and health management system requirements.

All stakeholder views will be considered in the development of recommendations for the final report. This final report will be provided by the end of June this year through the SafeWork SA Advisory Committee. It will also be provided to the National Mine Safety Framework and Safe Work Australia to ensure South Australian stakeholders' views are understood at the national level. The report will also ensure the feedback provided by South Australian stakeholders is taken into account in the development of final recommendations.

The emergency mine safety program is a collaborative effort between the Mining and Quarrying Occupational Health and Safety Committee and the South Australian Chamber of Mines and Energy. This program is focused on providing advice and support to mining companies in the establishment of safety systems in new operations. As such, the recent rescue competition exposes the competitors to challenges which are very realistic rescue scenarios and which test their skills and training.

The Olympic Dam team, from BHP Billiton, dominated the first SA Mines Emergency Response Competition. The team won the overall winning team trophy and won four out of eight section awards. I congratulate Olympic Dam, on being the inaugural overall winners of the perpetual trophy, and the other winners of those awards. As we have an increasing number of mines in this state, I look forward to this event becoming an annual event to enable them to hone their safety skills because there is nothing more important to members on this side of parliament than the safety of workers.

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