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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1999 Week 12 Hansard (24 November) . . Page.. 3590 ..

MR SMYTH (continuing):

we have been going through over a period of two years until they read about it in the Canberra Times.

The Government has introduced new regulations under the Dangerous Goods Act 1984 for the sale and use of fireworks, and we will also address the implementation of on-the-spot fines under the Occupational Health and Safety Act 1989. Mr Speaker, this strategy provides a mechanism to focus attention on the need to adhere to safety in the workplace. It has proven to be successful in New South Wales and is part of our broader suite of reforms.

When Mr Wood came to the stand he attempted to justify their going too early. They had come out fighting and some of the crossbenchers were concerned that they had gone too quickly. He accused them of moving with undue haste. He said that nothing changes as of today and the monster still exists. Mr Speaker, they need to define the monster. They need to define where we are falling down in our reform process because the reform process is comprehensive. They had no intention, whatever the coroner said, of doing anything but moving this no-confidence motion. It is a no-confidence motion that we should not be discussing because, if you look seriously, not politically, at what the coroner has said, we are addressing many of these concerns.

Mr Speaker, we still have some work to do on the Dangerous Goods Act. There needs to be new regulations now for the certification of operators of industrial plant and equipment. Some of the current regulations that we have date from the early 1900s and they need to be modernised. That work is being conducted in conjunction with New South Wales WorkCover because they are doing similar work at the same time. We are making sure that we work together so that we both come up with a consistent set of regulations in order that we have cross-border consistencies rather than inconsistencies.

We are also completing a review of the demolition code of practice and that will, of course, take into account all of the findings of the Bender inquest. We have also put in place a strategic approach to planning with the development of the prevention strategies framework. That framework identifies the five key strategies of leadership, advice, encouragement, education and enforcement, with all the related activities and targets that would go into that. Under that framework, workload and work allocation processes have been improved and are being made more equitable.

The other thing that we are doing is, of course, education. WorkCover communication with its clients is now improving. We reach at least 30,000 people with our quarterly newsletter so that we make them aware of any changes in their responsibilities. To highlight the importance of that, Mr Speaker, we have also improved the annual prevention awards to make sure people clearly understand the value that we place on occupational health and safety by rewarding those who do the right thing.

Mr Speaker, this is a lot of change since 2 July 1997 and it will now take into account the very sad events of 13 July 1997. The focus is now on continuous improvement and response to the coroner's report. That is what we are doing. The Labor Party may seek to do that, but it is what we are doing, which makes a mockery of what it is that they

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