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Legislative Council - Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2)
2012-03-27 Daily Xml
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WORKPLACE SAFETY

The Hon. T.A. FRANKS (15:19): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before directing a question to the Minister for Industrial Relations on worker safety and government contracts.

Leave granted.

The Hon. T.A. FRANKS: Following on from revelations over past months that bus drivers' safety has been increasingly threatened, including verbal and physical assaults that have arisen from complaints about delayed or missing bus services, it has been reported that incidents have arisen largely as a response to unrealistic deadlines being set as conditions of contracts and tenders undertaken by the private operators. I believe that we have also seen here these separate, unrelated incidents as part of a larger pattern not only in public transport but across the board.

Through my role in chairing the desal project select committee, I have heard time and time again about safety coming second behind meeting deadlines, and these deadlines appear to be set to suit government spin doctors' timelines rather than a realistic analysis of construction realities. Concerns have also been raised around the Adelaide Oval redevelopment project and schedule; that has seen the government announce a $5 million bonus to finish (ostensibly) in time for the Ashes but also, coincidentally, just in time for the March 2014 state election.

My question to the minister is: what undertaking do you give, as Minister for Industrial Relations in the Labor Weatherill government, to ensure that workers' lives are not put at risk through unreasonable time frames imposed or mandated by government contracts?

The Hon. R.P. WORTLEY (Minister for Industrial Relations, Minister for State/Local Government Relations) (15:21): I would like to thank the honourable member for her very important question. I also acknowledge her interest in worker safety in this state over a long period of time. First of all, as Minister for Industrial Relations, I would expect, when contracts are given out—and I am quite sure this takes place at the moment—that no worker would be expected to be put into a dangerous or unsafe situation.

It is an unfortunate fact that, on large projects, people sometimes do get injured, and sometimes, unfortunately, are killed. These incidents, as tragic as they are, the government will always try to keep to a minimum, or to prevent them altogether. All I can say is that, as Minister for Industrial Relations, I would expect that no contract is undertaken or given out to be signed that would put a person—a worker or anyone—in danger of losing their life or being injured.

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