Page 2560 - Week 09 - Wednesday, 8 August 1990
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this country will be marking time industrially. It is interesting that Mr Jensen defends the Liberal Party position in relation to that because it is - - -
Mr Jensen: I defend sensible working relationships between management and unions.
MR BERRY: Mr Jensen defends that and it is interesting that the Residents Rally is thrown in with the Liberals on that position and we expect that they will continue with that philosophy as far as they can.
But, of course, that could all change tomorrow. That could change tomorrow because if we get a bit of a run in the media this evening or in the paper tomorrow, Bernard Collaery could change. But then on the next day he could change again. It is very difficult to work out where the Residents Rally is going in relation to any matter, but it would be comforting if we could get some noises of support about the issue of workplace safety for workers in the Territory. This is making Mr Jensen squirm a bit because he does live in a workers' suburb and I suspect that from time to time he gets the message from the eyes of workers as he passes by them in the shopping place on Saturday morning as he tries to improve the Residents Rally position.
The Bill I move today attempts to overcome one of the major flaws of the previous Bill passed by the Assembly. That Bill was passed after it was altered at the will of the Liberals. I think I said earlier that Mr Stefaniak played a significant role in reducing the effect of occupational health and safety legislation in the Territory. That has resulted in failure to cover the greater proportion of the ACT's workplaces. That is a great pity and the shame has to be borne by the members opposite.
We will persist in trying to improve workplace safety for the Territory's workers and we will continue to campaign on that until we get proper workplace safety for all workers in the Territory. As the Act now stands, 95 per cent of employers are exempt under the Act - a fact identified by Mr Duby. His figures will do; he is in the Government. So the Government recognises and accepts that 95 per cent of employers are exempt from providing proper occupational health and safety in the workplace. It was identified by Mr Duby in this Assembly when speaking against the amendment to increase the threshold from 10 to 20. That is a halving of the number of employees required to ensure that a designated work group is set up in a workplace.
There is no doubt about it, workplace apathy and ignorance have been identified as causes of poor occupational health and safety practices. But much of that has to do with the persistence of employers, with the support of the Liberal Party, in adhering to those aged workplace practices which really involve the power of employers over employees.
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