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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2003 Week 10 Hansard (23 September) . . Page.. 3488 ..

MR STEFANIAK (continuing):

Again, a similar issue.

In relation to five of the six recommendations, the committee agreed. As the dissenting member of the committee, it was my view that if this legislation, which I do not think is remotely necessary, were to pass, those recommendations would improve the legislation.

I come now to make some dissenting and other comments. Firstly, my dissenting comments in relation to the bill. Mr Speaker, I feel there is absolutely no need for this legislation. No-one wants to see injuries in the workplace, and I don't think any reasonable person, employer/employee, sets out to wreak havoc in a workplace and have a work situation where injuries occur. It is not fair; it is not right; it is also incredibly bad for business as well. Generally, most people really support a very strong need for safety in the workplace. We have very strong occupation health and safety laws in Australia as a result.

In the ACT, we're a bit different from other states and territories; we don't have a manufacturing industry base, or very little. We don't have the types of industries that traditionally have led to deaths. There have been, from evidence before the committee, I think, some 23 deaths in the workplace. Some of those actually are to or from work-absolutely nothing to do with the workplace as such, but relate to car accidents. Some just relate to an illness the person had, a heart attack whilst they happened to be at work.

Some however did relate-I think about 11 or so-to something that might have gone wrong in the workplace, and several of those seem to have been where there might well have been some type of negligence. But there was no evidence whatsoever put before this committee that any of those deaths resulted from negligence that would justify an act such as this coming into force. Indeed, if a lot of the evidence put before my committee is correct, this particular act would possibly never be actually used because of the necessary standards required. There is nothing at all to indicate a justification for this.

I point out, too, to members of this Assembly that no other state or territory is going down this path. Victoria did. Initially it was rejected by their upper house. It is interesting, however, that the current Victorian government, the Bracks government, now has a majority and Mr Bracks has not seen fit to bring this legislation back.

New South Wales and other states, in fact, have gone about it in a very different way. They have enhanced their occupational health and safety legislation. I had chats with Queensland officials in relation to this matter. They are certainly enhancing their occupational health and safety matters, including penalties of up to, I think, three years imprisonment for some matters.

In New South Wales I think the penalties are somewhat similar. In fact, the fines and other provisions are in the millions of dollars, so it's not like the penalties are light there. But they are certainly not going down this path.

Queensland is looking, although there's no guarantee that they'll do it, of possibly bringing in an offence of negligent act causing death in the workplace, very similar to our laws in relation to culpable driving. But again there's no guarantee that they're even going to do that.

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