Page 653 - Week 02 - Wednesday, 22 February 2012
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I would like to congratulate my colleague Ms Bresnan for tabling this legislation. I know how much time and research has gone into this. I also know how long the negotiations have gone on in regard to getting support from the government and how, at the eleventh hour, problems were raised that had not been raised weeks ago. I find that disappointing as well. If you do have issues, it is always useful to be able to put that list together and not to keep coming up again and again with issues that we have not heard before, particularly only a very short time before it is due to be debated.
Again, I express my disappointment. I really think that ACT workers would have benefited greatly from this part of the legislation around putting in these people with expertise. I congratulate my colleague on all of the hard work. I do urge all Assembly colleagues to fully get behind this legislation.
MS BRESNAN (Brindabella) (4.34), in reply: I thank members for their contributions and for supporting one small element of the bill. I thank Ms Hunter for speaking in favour of the bill and for her support. The supported amendment will make reporting on bullying and other workplace psychosocial hazards a new function of the Work Safety Council. I hope that this will improve the monitoring of bullying developments in the ACT and other jurisdictions and result in recommendations to the minister to develop best practice laws and procedures. I look forward to hearing about the Work Safety Council’s approach to advising on workplace bullying matters. I understand that the minister, Dr Bourke, will soon meet with the council and I would appreciate an update on these matters.
However, I am extremely disappointed, as Ms Hunter has already outlined, that the government and the Liberal Party have failed to support the key part of this bill. I note, though, that the government and the Liberals will also strike out the part of the legislation which sets up machinery for an expert advisory committee on bullying. This would have been a great asset and we note that it is actually a provision under the act.
The key part of the legislation, voted against today by the government and the Liberal Party, would have required WorkSafe ACT to have at least three inspectors with specialised experience or expertise in workplace bullying and other workplace psychosocial matters. I would just like to add to what Ms Hunter said: we did actually negotiate on this point. Again, it was an issue which came up extremely late in the process.
This is a completely reasonable ask. We know that it is needed and that it would make a significant difference to bullying matters in the ACT. It recognises that bullying and other psychosocial hazards are unique and that detecting, managing and regulating these hazards requires specialised attention. It overcomes the historical lack of action on this issue. As the Productivity Commission reported in 2010, work-related stress and the psychosocial hazards of bullying, occupational violence and fatigue that give rise to it are not being given the same attention as physical hazards in OHS legislation, nor by inspectors.
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