Page 2508 - Week 08 - Tuesday, 9 August 2016
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
management which brings the ACT into closer alignment with other Australian jurisdictions.
A return-to-work coordinator is a person whose principal role is to assist injured workers to remain at, or to return to, work in a safe and durable manner. By facilitating positive return-to-work outcomes and reducing disability duration for injured workers, we expect that the return-to-work coordinators will reduce costs for employers and increase health outcomes for workers.
To reduce administrative costs for employers, the territory recently paid for a return-to-work coordinator training course for around 30 people and several insurers have also been offering training free of charge for their insured employers.
This government is committed not just to creating jobs for Canberrans but also to helping them stay in those jobs. We have aligned workers compensation and work health and safety inspector right-of-entry powers to improve regulator effectiveness and efficiency. These changes will allow inspectors to respond to workers compensation or safety issues in the course of the same inspection activity.
The amendment is responsive to a recommendation of the getting home safely inquiry to address sham contracting practices. Sham contracting can involve employers improperly classifying their employees as contractors in order to avoid paying workers compensation insurance. Where sham contracting is widespread, it can reduce industry safety standards and increase the price of workers compensation insurance for employers who do the right thing. By adjusting the workers compensation right-of-entry powers, this government has significantly improved inspectors’ capacity to investigate and respond to sham contracting.
In 2016-17 we will also continue to champion industrial relations protections for territory workers, for example, by opposing changes to penalty rates. In 2015-16 we saw significant inroads made in this area. For example, the Holidays Act was amended to ensure that the rights of workers to penalty rates were protected by removing all doubt surrounding the new public holiday status of Christmas Day, Boxing Day, New Year’s Day and Easter Sunday. The territory’s portable long service leave schemes were extended to cover aged-care and waste management workers, making the ACT the first jurisdiction in Australia to recognise the important and challenging roles of these workers.
As Minister for Workplace Safety and Industrial Relations I am proud of the improved standards for workers and employers that have been achieved since I took responsibility in this portfolio. We will continue to ensure that Canberrans are safe in their jobs, receive their entitlements and have the work-life balance that they deserve.
To move on, Madam Deputy Speaker, my portfolio responsibilities under the Chief Minister, Territory and Economic Development Directorate also include the Asbestos Response Taskforce. I am pleased to speak in support of the important work that the Asbestos Response Taskforce does in eradicating once and for all Mr Fluffy asbestos from houses in the ACT.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video