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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1999 Week 13 Hansard (7 December) . . Page.. 3920 ..

MR SMYTH (continuing):

inside the department. They will be able to perform their duties free of influence. Only the Minister can direct the authority, and then only by a written instrument which is required to be tabled in this place. No longer will the activities of WorkCover be enmeshed in the day-to-day business of my department, and that will enable it to sharpen its focus on its core regulatory responsibilities.

Some may suggest that the authority should have stakeholder interest in charge. Clearly, for independence to be achieved, directors of this operational authority - and that is what it will be doing; it will be conducting the operations of WorkCover - should not be represented by sectorial influences. For that reason, the Government is not entertaining any notion that an individual employer or employee or any other stakeholder group should be represented on the authority.

The Government has, however, been careful to ensure a continuing role for the existing Occupational Health and Safety Council, on which all relevant stakeholder groups are represented. There has been misinformation about this being the demise of the OH&S Council. Its role is undiminished. Its role is to advise the Minister on OH&S policy, and it will continue to do so. I say to Ms Tucker: the role of the Occupational Health and Safety Council is undiminished. It will continue to advise me - which is how it has been set up - on OH&S policy.

I do not believe it is appropriate for employers and unions to be part of the regulatory authority. There is a clear conflict of interest there. The council is enhanced by this Bill, and it will provide the Minister of the day with recommendations on any appointment to the authority. Mr Berry's Bill makes no mention of that. The Government has been very careful to ensure that the role of the OH&S Council continues because it performs a very valuable function in the ACT. What it will do is report directly to and receive requests to undertake work from the Minister of the day. Under this Bill, the Minister must consider any recommendations the council may wish to make on the appointment of directors.

The second cornerstone in our Bill is the accountability processes. The Bill establishes the authority's responsibility for administering occupational health and safety, workers compensation, dangerous goods and other pieces of legislation. I am pleased Mr Berry has picked that up and extended the roles of his commissioner. Concurrent with those responsibilities comes accountability, and the authority and any individual inspectorial, administrative and managerial staff actions are accountable to the authority itself.

This accountability is then to the Assembly through the Minister. How? Annual business plans, quarterly reports and annual reports must all be prepared by the authority, and they will be tabled by the Minister in this place. As I have said before, the Minister is clearly accountable to the Assembly for any directions issued to the authority. These must also be tabled. The cost of their application by the authority will be paid for by the Government.

The third and most important part is how the staffing arrangements will work. We have achieved much in the ongoing professional development of the staff in the past few years, and the Government wants to continue to build on this. This will be a key responsibility of the authority. The Bill uses the continuation of the Public Sector

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