Page 3806 - Week 11 - Thursday, 24 November 2022
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Another important resource is our union movement. They stand up for the rights of workers and have long fought to protect workers. We need to be supporting the work of unions, because by doing that we can help young workers as well.
DR PATERSON: Minister, what support is in place for young workers?
MR GENTLEMAN: I thank Dr Paterson for the question. If members are hearing from young people about concerns that they have in their workplace or if they are hearing specific stories about bad practices in a workplace, I strongly encourage those people to reach out to WorkSafe. WorkSafe have a young workers inspector, whose main role is assisting young people in these situations, providing advice on work health and safety, helping to provide practical solutions and offering guidance on how you can submit a confidential incident report, if needed. There is also more information about this on the young workers portal.
I would also suggest that, among the 25 members of this place, many of us have connections to businesses here and around Canberra. Most businesses are doing the right thing by their employees, but it is always important to encourage those business owners and industry groups to make sure that their workplaces and industries are safe, that their training is up to standard and that their employees are protected when coming to work.
There is also the Young Workers Advice Service, run by UnionsACT. This is a free advice service on issues such as wages, pay slips, health and safety, and employment conditions. The YWIS also actively runs rights at work and work experience sessions in schools to help educate students on their rights as they enter the workforce. As always, we should encourage young people to join their relevant union and to raise any concerns about their workplace with that union.
Mr Barr: Further questions can be placed on the notice paper. Thank you, Madam Speaker.
Supplementary answers to questions without notice
Minister for Health—questions on notice
MS STEPHEN-SMITH: Yesterday, Ms Castley asked me a question about a freedom of information request that she had received back from the Health Directorate and Canberra Health Services, and she asked me a question in relation to the way my office has managed responses to questions on notice. I did say that I would come back to the Assembly and Ms Castley with some further information in relation to that. Having looked into it, I can advise the Assembly that my initial understanding that Ms Castley had probably misrepresented the situation was accurate. In fact, she had misrepresented the situation.
In relation to this particular response to the question on notice, my staff member provided two pieces of feedback to the directorates. One piece of feedback related to asking for some additional information, for a break down in information, so that the answer was more accurate and was providing the information Ms Castley had asked for—ward-by-ward information, which was not provided in the original draft answer.
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