Page 3888 - Week 13 - Tuesday, 29 October 2013
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The new court will become the place where certainty and fairness for all litigants will be delivered, through specialist knowledge and understanding of the particular issues that arise, and their impact on both workers and employers. Over time it is expected that the new court will build up its knowledge and expertise in industrial law so that its decisions will better protect the safety of all ACT workers and deliver fairer outcomes for employers.
The industrial court will hear and determine not only breaches of our work health and safety laws but also statutory workers compensation claims and common law claims up to the value of a quarter of a million dollars, all of which are currently dealt with in the broader jurisdiction of the Magistrates Court. Common law compensation claims above $250,000 will remain in the Supreme Court jurisdiction until such time as the government is able to assess the impact on the Magistrates Court of the remainder of the changes currently being implemented.
Having statutory and common law workers compensation litigation as part of the same jurisdiction as the mechanism to manage disputes, penalties and fines will promote greater consistency in decision making and the imposition of appropriate penalties by the court. In the relatively unusual event that criminal and civil proceedings are initiated in the industrial court out of the same incident, the government has made provision for the chief magistrate to assign another magistrate to hear a matter where she is satisfied that a perception of bias could otherwise arise. The chief magistrate will also be able to assign another magistrate to deal with a matter where she is satisfied that it is in the interests of justice to do so. These flexible assignment provisions complement the way competing matters are already being managed and dealt with in our court system.
The establishment of the ACT industrial court coincides with the introduction of significantly higher penalties for offences under the new harmonised work health and safety laws. Now a company can be fined up to $3 million for a serious work safety breach and a negligent company director can be fined up to $600,000 or be sent to jail for up to five years.
As has been noted in the Getting home safely report, ACT courts have tended to impose significantly lower penalties than those applied in other jurisdictions. Those jurisdictions already have industrial courts with expertise and knowledge of work health and safety and the likely impact of sentences. But there is no doubt that low penalties for non-compliance represent little, if any, deterrent for recalcitrant businesses, which is unfair on those businesses which are committed to doing the right thing and providing a safe working environment for their workers.
Therefore, the establishment of the industrial court will assist with the application of appropriate penalties for work safety offences and will send a strong message to non-compliant businesses who think they can cut corners, flout the laws and put workers’ safety at risk. The government has now put the courts in a strong position to have a consistent approach in dealing with breaches of work health and safety laws as a result of this bill.
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