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Legislative Council - Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2)
2013-03-21 Daily Xml
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Question Time

WORK HEALTH AND SAFETY ACT

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY (Leader of the Opposition) (14:19): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the minister for primary industries a question about the Work Health and Safety Act.

Leave granted.

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY: South Australia's new Work, Health and Safety Act commenced operation on 1 January 2013. It includes regulations and codes of practice. Under the regulations an abalone diver on the West Coast, for example, must hold a certificate of medical fitness issued by a registered medical practitioner with experience in dive medicine or underwater medicine, even if there is no such registered medical practitioner working on the West Coast. Secondly, divers must prepare a dive plan, check that they have a dive plan, and comply with their own dive plan; so if they see an abalone that is not where the dive plan says the diver is going, the abalone stays where it is and so does the diver.

In this labyrinth of rules and regulations, a seven page letter has been sent by the Small Business Commissioner to selected organisations representing primary producers. Agriculture and primary industries are a major employer in South Australia with tens of thousands of small businesses, but only a small proportion have so far seen the commissioner's letter. The commissioner is asking for feedback as part of his public consultation because the 12 codes—which apply to farmers, self-employed contractors, primary producers and businesses that manufacture, supply, repair or carry out other activities involving agricultural machinery or provide services to agriculture—require consultation.

The letter was dated 18 March, and it says that the cut-off date for public consultation is 5 April. That is less than three weeks' consultation, which includes the Easter period; in fact, it is only 12 working days. My questions are:

1. Does the minister think that 12 days is enough time for proper, inclusive public consultation?

2. What is the minister going to do to ensure that every business gets a copy of the commissioner's letter?

3. The commissioner's letter states that the code will apply to people who provide 'services to agriculture'. Does that mean that the code does not apply to the present Minister for Agriculture?

The Hon. G.E. GAGO (Minister for Agriculture, Food and Fisheries, Minister for Forests, Minister for Regional Development, Minister for the Status of Women, Minister for State/Local Government Relations) (14:21): I thank the honourable member for his most important questions. Indeed, safety is a very significant issue for those working in our primary industries.

I believe there was an article in today's paper that talked about the number of accidents that occur in farming areas and on farms, and it was a quite sickening article. I think the highest level of accidents involve vehicles, tractors, quad bikes and motorbikes; but it went through a whole range of risks associated with working on farms. It was incredibly disturbing, and hit a nerve with me because I lost a very, very dear friend who was 21 years old. A tractor rolled over onto him, and my very dear friend died instantly. So it is an issue very dear to my heart, and I was very disturbed by the article in the paper today. Any measure that seeks to make our workers, including those who work on farms, safer is something to be commended.

In terms of whether it is working as an abalone diver or a farmhand, every worker has the right to work in a safe place. We know that a great deal of work has been done to ensure that we continue to review and set standards to decrease safety risks, but we also continue to look at ways of streamlining the red tape around that as well, because we are mindful that there are imposts associated with that which, in turn, cost the community. However, I guess the ultimate cost of one's life has to be measured up against that.

I was concerned to hear from the Hon. David Ridgway that there is only a three-week consultation period—

The Hon. D.W. Ridgway: It is 12 working days.

The Hon. G.E. GAGO: —or 12 working days. I think it was you who said it was 12 days, and I was only quoting—

The Hon. D.W. Ridgway interjecting:

The Hon. G.E. GAGO: I was only quoting the Hon. David Ridgway who said it was 12 days.

The Hon. D.W. Ridgway interjecting:

The Hon. G.E. GAGO: I was only quoting the Hon. David Ridgway. I was concerned to hear that it only involved 12 days. It is interesting, though, that to the best of my knowledge I have not received any letters of concern or other information. To the best of my knowledge no-one has raised this issue with me and raised any concern about the length of consultation, so I need to put that on the record.

That does not mean that they may be there in my office and I have not seen them but I need to put on the record that I have not seen any. I will be interested to check what has come through my office, and I am happy to talk with anyone in the industry who has concerns about the length of consultation period for them and assist them in whatever way I can to ensure that they are given an adequate amount of time to provide whatever submissions are relevant to their particular sector.

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