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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2003 Week 13 Hansard (26 November) . . Page.. 4683 ..

MS GALLAGHER: Mr Pratt, there was a media release from you on Tuesday asking what the government is doing about OH&S reform and why is it taking so long; so I am at a bit of a loss to know why you are now accusing me of rushing through legislation that-

Mr Pratt: But you did not rush the review, did you, Minister?

MR SPEAKER: Order! You have had your question.

MS GALLAGHER: The matter of who started the review is a little irrelevant.

Opposition members interjecting-

MS GALLAGHER: The review has been conducted by the OH&S Council. It was out of my hands. The council provide independent advice to me. They conducted the review. They gave the result to me a couple of months ago. It has had to go through the normal government processes and go through cabinet prior to my making any announcement.

Mr Pratt: Inaction.

MS GALLAGHER: It is not inaction, Mr Pratt, but you can sit there and accuse me of it if it makes you feel better. The legislation has not been drafted yet so, again, the expectation is that I will rush through legislation that is not even before the Assembly. The plan is to put it together next year. I am hoping that it can go through as soon as possible because this government takes workplace safety very seriously, Mr Pratt. I want you to join me on the journey but, if you are just going to sit there and accuse me of slowing things down and not doing things, then that is your prerogative.

We are putting together a very progressive OH&S reform package. Part of it will be debated tomorrow. The rest has been produced during extensive consultation about the OH&S compliance review over a number of years. We will be acting on that next year when the legislation is ready. You can have your say about it then.

Mr Stanhope: Mr Speaker, I ask that all further questions be placed on the notice paper.

Supplementary answers to questions without notice

Water strategy

MR STANHOPE: I took a question on notice yesterday from Mrs Dunne on the water strategy, another one of her tricky little questions, and I have a response to that. I present the following paper:

Draft water strategy-Answer to question taken on notice from Mrs Dunne.

Workplace safety

MS GALLAGHER: Yesterday, Mr Pratt asked me how many infringements of the OH&S Act have occurred in the ACT and what action ACT WorkCover has had to take against workplaces or individuals for infringements of the OH&S Act. The answer to the

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