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Legislative Council - Fifty-Second Parliament, First Session (52-1)
2010-07-22 Daily Xml
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INDUSTRIAL MANSLAUGHTER LEGISLATION

The Hon. T.A. JENNINGS (14:52): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Industrial Relations a question about industrial manslaughter legislation.

Leave granted.

The Hon. T.A. JENNINGS: My question, of course, is raised in the shadow of last week's tragic incident, when a construction worker lost his life at the site of our desalination plant where a soft sling being used broke. I start by stating that I express my heartfelt condolences to the man's family, friends and workmates. I also acknowledge the minister and his words in this place earlier this week when similarly expressing those condolences.

Two days ago, the member for Mitchell in the other place noted, in a grievance debate on workplace safety, that 7,000 people die each year in Australia from work-related incidents, including disease and accidents. I think we can all agree that that is 7,000 too many. Last week's tragedy reminds us that workplace death is all too common and that it is time that we as legislators need to be doing everything in our power to ensure that deaths are prevented at all costs.

That brings us to the question of what can be done to reduce, if not eliminate, the occurrence of workplace deaths in South Australia. I note the trade union movement has been calling for a ban on soft slings for 25 years and, according to CFMEU State Secretary, Martin O'Malley, he has been doing that for over two decades. This will no doubt be discussed further during the investigations and discussions that arise from last week's tragedy, as is fit and proper.

I am not saying for one moment that the accident that occurred last week is due in any part to any decision or action by the employer; that is, of course, for the investigators to determine. However, an important aspect of reducing workplace death is to ensure that there are sufficient laws to dissuade employers from taking shortcuts that may endanger workers' lives and to enable prosecution of employers if this is found to be the case.

I am aware that this is a matter that has previously been discussed in this place, so I ask the minister: if and when will the state government move to introduce industrial manslaughter legislation?

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) (14:54): I thank the honourable member for her question, and I reiterate my condolences to the family, friends and workmates of the worker who was killed doing his job last week.

In relation to some of the matters raised by the honourable member, as I indicated in my statement on Tuesday, the government, through SafeWork SA, will obviously be fully investigating matters to do with that death, including issues such as the appropriate form of slings.

In relation to the broader question the honourable member has raised, I point out that a national review into model occupational health and safety—the occ health and safety laws—which was commissioned by the federal government in 2008, considered the issue of industrial manslaughter, as the honourable member has put it, as part of its assessment of the types of offences that should be included under harmonised model occupational health and safety legislation. In particular, it examined offences involving work-related deaths and serious injuries arising at workplaces, and it noted that the Australian Capital Territory is the only jurisdiction that has a specific offence of industrial manslaughter.

The review further noted that previous reviews of occupational health and safety laws undertaken in the last 10 years in Australia—that is, in Victoria, New South Wales and South Australia—had all recognised the seriousness of work-related deaths but there was no common ground on how the Occupational Health and Safety Act should deal with industrial manslaughter. South Australia's position to that review was that there would be little benefit in pursuing industrial manslaughter under South Australia's occupational health and safety laws, given that a charge of manslaughter against anyone where death was caused intentionally, recklessly or negligently at the workplace could be brought under the Criminal Law Consolidation Act.

The review's report did not recommend that industrial manslaughter be a separate offence under the proposed model occupational health and safety legislation. Recommendation 55 of the review's first report to the Workplace Relations Ministerial Council proposed three categories of offence for each type of duty of care under the model laws. This reflected general support by stakeholders for the differentiation of offences by reference to the level of culpability, risks and seriousness involved. From that accepted approach, it was then recommended that the model law should specify particular penalties for particular offences so that the relative seriousness of the offence is clear.

The ministerial council subsequently agreed to recommendation 55 in principle and provided SafeWork Australia with directions on the scope and content of the model Work Health and Safety Act in early April 2009. Recommendation 55 was then drafted as a provision of the model Work Health and Safety Bill, part 2, division 5, sections 29 to 35, which was agreed to by the Workplace Relations Ministerial Council in December 2009. Apart from some minor amendments to these provisions, made at the request of SafeWork Australia, they remain essentially intact.

The final version of this bill is anticipated to be available shortly. I presume, given the current federal election and the fact that the federal government is in caretaker mode, that may well be after the election, but certainly one would expect that fairly soon we would see the final version of the bill. I think that indicates the views of workplace ministers around the country in relation to this matter. The ministers have generally supported that recommendation that there should be some gradation, three categories in fact, of offence for each type of duty of care under the model laws. Obviously, we hope that that bill will be released fairly soon.

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