Page 3885 - Week 10 - Thursday, 27 August 2009
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Finally, I will make a couple of comments on the impact of this legislation. I have no doubt that the bill introduced last year and this follow-up legislation were presented to cabinet with consultation reports and regulatory impact statements of a kind. It was somewhat entertaining and informative to hear Minister Barr chiding the Greens for failing to independently commission and provide a regulatory impact statement with our energy efficiency bill. I have been unable to find any such analysis produced by the department to inform cabinet deliberation anywhere on the public record.
MR HARGREAVES (Brindabella—Minister for Disability and Housing, Minister for Ageing, Minister for Multicultural Affairs, Minister for Industrial Relations and Minister for Corrections) (5.36), in reply: With the debate here today on the Work Safety Legislation Amendment Bill 2009 this Labor Government has reached the next important milestone in the rollout of what is some of the most progressive work safety legislation in the country.
The Work Safety Legislation Amendment Bill 2009 makes consequential and transitional arrangements necessary to enable commencement of the Work Safety Act 2008 on 1 October 2009. Critically, this includes the repeal of the Occupational Health and Safety Act 1989 to allow the Work Safety Act 2008 to replace it. The bill also repeals schedule 3 of the Public Sector Management Act 1994. Schedule 3 provided a range of work safety obligations for the public service. The repeal means that public and private sector employers in the territory will all be required to comply with one work safety regime—as it should be, Mr Speaker!
In addition, the bill provides for various appointments and arrangements under the existing OH&S act to continue when the regulations commence on 1 October 2009. Other transitional aspects of the bill include appointments of current OH&S council members and the OH&S commissioner. Further, existing workplace arrangements, including health and safety representatives and health and safety committees, will be transitioned to become work safety representatives and work safety committees when the new act commences. The bill also supports compliance measures, including prohibition notices, so that they remain valid and effective after 1 October 2009.
The government believes that the role of the new Commissioner for Work Safety is critical to the delivery of best practice in the workplace. To that end, I am pleased to inform the chamber that the Stanhope Labor government has delivered an additional $120,000 annually for the promotion of work safety. The work safety fund will be devoted to the promotion of better OH&S practices and will enable the commissioner to target and respond to specific work safety issues. Importantly, the work safety fund will also support the establishment of joint initiatives with work safety partners to develop and trial innovative methods of work safety training and education.
As members would be aware, in June last year the government released an exposure draft of the Work Safety Bill 2008. That release came about at the same time that discussion continued at the national level on the issue of how to establish nationally consistent occupational health and safety legislation. What was important about the release was that it commenced a most extensive and wide-ranging multilevel consultation process. This process has continued seamlessly since that time, most recently with the last special meeting of the Occupational Health and Safety Council
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