Page 5860 - Week 14 - Wednesday, 7 December 2011
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
(a) release the full results of the internal ACT Government survey by the close of business on Thursday, 8 December 2011; and
(b) report to the Assembly by the last sitting day in February 2012 on:
(i) the data it collects for assault and bullying at the industry by industry level, for example, the public service compared to the taxi industry compared to the liquor and hospitality industry;
(ii) how this information is used to tailor assault and bullying prevention strategies at the industry and professional level;
(iii) what Government strategies are currently in place to prevent assault and bullying at an industry and professional level; and
(iv) what additional prevention strategies have been investigated for government workers in response to the internal survey.
I am pleased to bring this motion on for debate today because preventing assaults on workers is an issue that everyone can and should support. No-one deserves to be assaulted at work. Whether you work in the public sector as a nurse, a police officer or a teacher, or whether you work in the private sector as a taxidriver or a bartender, you should be able to go to work and feel safe. Sadly, this is not the case for everyone in the ACT. Unfortunately, there are industries and professions that do experience high rates of assault.
Recently it has emerged that an internal government survey of the ACT public service workforce found 1,600 incidents of workers being attacked, bullied or harassed over a 20-month period. This is a rate of 4.8 adverse incidents per 100 workers per year. The closest data available at the general population level shows that there are just 0.8 adverse incidents per 100 people per year. This is contained in the number of reports to police of assaults against the person. This is quite a striking statistic which shows that people in the public service are experiencing violence at a high rate.
It is important to note that only broad conclusions can be drawn by using this data, because the two data sets do not align precisely. Nonetheless, they are the best data that is publicly available and I think they illustrate the broad trend we are seeing. It is also important to note that government workers are not alone when experiencing violence at work. The Justice and Community Safety Guide for framing offences notes that there will be other professions and industries that also experience high rates of assault. I have mentioned taxidrivers and nightclub workers as two potential examples of other jobs where there is a high risk of violence. There certainly could be more examples, and I hope for more of that data to be released if my motion is successful.
I am hopeful that today the Assembly will form the unanimous view that reducing assault against workers is something to be supported. If that is the case, the critical question becomes: what is best done by government to assist in resolving the problem and reducing assaults against workers?
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video