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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2004 Week 06 Hansard (Tuesday, 22 June 2004) . . Page.. 2404 ..

sort of answer on that, but I doubt that we will. So, we seem to have a lack of data to support the level of the penalty.

We have already got an independent umpire, who is either being sidelined or ignored by the government. People have seen WorkCover grow and change over recent years, and I think people would like to have confidence in WorkCover, but I suspect that this legislation is actually a vote of no confidence in WorkCover by the government. The critical issues for WorkCover, particularly its employees, are resources, access to training and regulations that will make the on-the-spot fines actually work. These have been totally ignored by the government for the last 2½ years.

I think this will lead to a lack of understanding out there about what the role of WorkCover is. We have got a government that we know is not committed to education because we have lost that unit. We have got a series of powers, including an almost unencumbered right to enter. Not even the police have that sort of power. Then we get the answer “We’ll scoff at this.” How dare he say that!

Ms Gallagher: You don’t understand it.

MR SMYTH: “We don’t understand it.” There you go.

Ms Gallagher: You don’t.

MR SMYTH: With their good, glib gloss, they scoff. You are wrong. “We don’t understand it.” Well, explain what we do not understand. Read the bill! I quote:

(2) The authorised representative may enter the premises without notice.

(3) The authorised representative must tell the occupier of the premises that the representative is on the premises as soon as reasonably practicable after entering the premises—

But you determine when that is.

(4) However, the authorised representative need not tell the occupier of the premises that the representative is on the premises if—

(a) to do so would defeat the purpose for which the premises were entered;

The lack of clarity in this, and the broad scope of that! You may scoff, Minister, but this is what the business community is afraid of. These are wide-ranging powers that I do not believe are held by any union organisation around the country at the moment.

We have then got the level of fines. There are substantial fines in this: 1,500 penalty units. There is a fine if you are in a situation where something might have gone wrong; there is a heftier fine if it did go wrong; there is a bigger fine for the body corporate. It is the big stick. We are going to lace this with the biggest sticks we can find. There are a number of problems with this.

The Liberal opposition is committed to occupational health and safety from the point of view of both employer and employee. We have got to work together to make this

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