Legislative Council - Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2)
2012-07-20 Daily Xml

Contents

SAFEWORK SA

The Hon. J.A. DARLEY (15:05): I have six questions to the Minister for Industrial Relations with regard to SafeWork SA.

The PRESIDENT: You'll need six days.

The Hon. R.P. Wortley: I just answered that, surely?

The Hon. J.A. DARLEY: Yes, but the other six are the ones I want to hear the answers to.

The PRESIDENT: Are you seeking to make an explanation?

The Hon. J.A. DARLEY: No. My questions to the minister are:

1. Apart from the 94 FTEs the minister has just mentioned about the inspectorial staff of SafeWork SA, what is the total complement of other staff within SafeWork SA, and in particular the policy division?

2. I understand that SafeWork SA plans to reduce its motor vehicle fleet by about 30 per cent as part of a budget reduction measure. Can the minister provide details of this and how SafeWork SA identified that it could still effectively manage its workload with this reduction?

3. Will the minister also provide details about whether vehicles used by SafeWork SA inspectors have been included in this cut and how the inspectors' investigation branch or response team will be impacted by these cuts?

4. Will vehicles provided to SafeWork SA executive level staff be available for use by inspectorial staff?

5. Can the minister advise whether there are any other budgetary savings likely to impact the number of inspectorial staff?

6. Does the minister anticipate an increase in numbers of inspectors should the Work Health and Safety Bill pass and, if so, has this been factored into the 2012-13 budget for SafeWork SA?

The Hon. R.P. WORTLEY (Minister for Industrial Relations, Minister for State/Local Government Relations) (15:06): I would like to thank the member for his very important six questions. These issues naturally are dealt with through SafeWork SA. These questions will be given to SafeWork SA. Before that we will talk to you, anyway, in regard to other issues. I will have the answers for all those questions in the near future, and I will also put them on notice and get answers back for the parliament.