Page 1129 - Week 04 - Thursday, 21 March 1991
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The Review Authority being established in the ACT will, therefore, be consistent with approaches being taken within Commonwealth employment, allowing consistency between judgments and across all levels of employment within the ACT. All other States and Territories also utilise the respective State industrial relations commissions. The ACT Government's approach is, therefore, consistent both nationally and regionally; it is also based on sound economic and administrative rationale and, therefore, warrants the support, I think, Mr Speaker, of the whole Assembly.
MRS NOLAN (10.44): Again I see that no-one else from the other side seems to want to make any contribution to the debate this morning. As the Chief Minister stated when he introduced this Bill into the Assembly, the Occupational Health and Safety Act 1989 had as its key aims the promotion and improvement of standards for occupational health, safety and welfare. The establishment of the Review Authority in the form of the Industrial Relations Commission is a cornerstone of the legislation. In addition to the provision of a review authority within the Bill, two other areas are being addressed in this amendment Bill before us today; the training of health and safety representatives and the injury and disease notification systems are also vital elements.
The Bill ensures that deputies do not suffer loss of remuneration or entitlements while undertaking a basic training course approved by the Occupational Health and Safety Council. A deputy health and safety representative is selected in the same manner as the health and safety representative. Where the health and safety representative ceases to be the representative, or is unable to fulfil that role due to an absence for any reason, the deputy may exercise the powers of a health and safety representative.
It should be noted that the Act already provides for remuneration and no losses of entitlements while representatives are exercising their powers under the Act. Training is an essential prerequisite to the exercise of these powers, to ensure that there is no misunderstanding as to their exercise and so that representatives are fully aware as to the means of resolving occupational health and safety issues in the workplace. However, in its current form the Act has not clarified whether this arrangement applies to training and to deputies. The Bill clarifies this so that there is absolutely no ambiguity. Deputy representatives may be put in identical circumstances to representatives, and the Bill allows for the provision of training for these representatives.
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