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Legislative Council - Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2)
2012-06-14 Daily Xml
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WORK HEALTH AND SAFETY BILL

The Hon. J.A. DARLEY (14:49): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Industrial Relations a question regarding the Work Health and Safety Bill.

Leave granted.

The Hon. J.A. DARLEY: On Saturday 9 June, The Advertiser reported that Business SA was now ready to support the government's Work Health and Safety Bill due to a number of amendments that the government was willing to make to the bill. In this article the minister is reported as saying that the cost of building a single-storey house would be likely to increase by no more than $2,000, rather than the $20,000 that the Housing Industry Association is suggesting. Can the minister explain how this $2,000 figure was determined and provide a breakdown of how it was calculated?

The Hon. R.P. WORTLEY (Minister for Industrial Relations, Minister for State/Local Government Relations) (14:50): The housing industry has repeated—and it has been repeated by the Hon. Mr Lucas and a number of others—an increase in the cost of housing through this work health and safety legislation by $20,000 for a single-storey building. I will get to the answer for the honourable member, but nobody would be able to produce to this chamber a figure of $20,000 reported anywhere. Figures have been given by the Housing Industry Association, which we have a copy of, and we have had two independent consultants look at those figures. I think Mr Bottomley suggested that the cost was insignificant, and that was then backed up by Mr Ogden—

The Hon. J.M.A. Lensink: What does that mean?

The Hon. R.P. WORTLEY: If you will be quiet, I will let you know. They say that the cost would be insignificant. Off the top of my head, it could be 0.5 per cent to 1 per cent of the cost of an average house. I have stated $2,000 because, unlike the housing industry which grossly exaggerates with an unmanageable set of false figures, I have actually been very liberal. Not to confuse everyone, I have said $2,000.

The reality is that $2,000 is a figure which would include mainly height provisions. The current situation is that the vast majority of houses actually use these prevention methods. Regarding the figures quoted by the housing industry, I will go into quite a lot of detail about that during my summary of the Work Health and Safety Bill.

It is interesting that you asked me the question, Hon. Mr Darley. The fact is that I have seen on a number of occasions $20,000 for the cost of a house through this work health and safety legislation and yet nobody has produced anything. I can produce two reports, and I think I have given a copy of both those reports to you and everyone in this chamber. They would make it quite clear that the cost of a new house would be insignificant, providing that people who work there comply with the current legislation, which I anticipate they would.

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