Page 3448 - Week 12 - Wednesday, 19 September 1990
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the responsibility of the council. The council will take notice of the views of all people throughout industry.
Actually, what we are doing here is quite remarkable. We often hear the Opposition bleating about consultation; yet when we are trying to apply that principle of consultation to a very emotive issue, namely, the size of designated work groups in the ACT, we see that the Opposition wants to ramrod a certain figure, an ideologically determined figure, upon both the unions and employers in industry. The council has been very busy. It has been considering a whole range of issues essential to the effective implementation of the Occupational Health and Safety Act, including training of representatives and the introduction of codes of practice and regulations necessary to the effective functioning of the Act in the ACT.
In future that council will advise the Government. It will look at the issue of the size of designated work groups, and the Government, when it gets that advice from the council, will then make a decision about the appropriate size of designated work groups under the operations of the Occupational Health and Safety Act. The Government sees no need at this stage for this legislation, this amendment to the Occupational Health and Safety Act, to be carried, and opposes the private members' Bill.
MR STEFANIAK (12.18): I was chairman of the committee which looked at this matter. We looked at this in a fairly short period of time, but it was a very detailed inquiry. Mr Berry has proposed now that section 36 be amended to reduce the number of employees employed in a designated work group to more than 10 rather than more than 20
This Act was passed last year by the Legislative Assembly. It was introduced by the Labor Party but it was fundamentally supported by both sides after that extensive committee inquiry into it. It was developed following consultations between employers and unions. I know that I have been involved since about November 1988 in relation to questions arising from this Act. There was not all that much consultation in 1988, but there certainly was in 1989. As a result of this entire process, in November last year a figure of more than 20 employees for a designated work group emerged. The Act came into effect on 17 May this year and, as the Chief Minister says, it should be given time to bed down. Inspectors have been appointed; they are working in the field.
As the Chief Minister said, prohibition notices have in fact been issued. Advice on current occupational health and safety procedures has been given. The role of the inspectors and their powers applies equally to larger and smaller employers. It is not related to whether there is a designated work group. As Mr Duby has said, the Occupational Health and Safety Council has been appointed under this Act. That system is still in its infancy, but it is working.
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