Page 3781 - Week 11 - Tuesday, 24 September 2019
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MR PETTERSSON: Minister, what are some of the priorities as part of this year’s National Safe Work Month?
MS ORR: This year’s National Safe Work Month theme is “Be a safety champion”. Everyone in a workplace—both workers and employers—has a shared responsibility to be safe and promote safety. We all can and should be safety champions. My goal during this month’s event will be to encourage even more people to learn about and promote workplace safety. One area that I will be emphasising and which deserves a spotlight in work safety month is mental health.
I will be joining WorkSafe ACT at events which have a strong focus on psychosocial health. Work-related psychosocial injury is expensive. It is estimated that poor psychosocial health and safety costs Australian organisations $6 billion per annum in lost productivity. With one in five Australian adults experiencing a mental health condition in any given year, it is important that workplaces create an environment that is safe, positive and productive.
WorkSafe recently appointed a dedicated psychological health officer. As Minister for Employment and Workplace Safety I am pleased to see a dedicated resource to look at more ways to prevent psychosocial injuries in the workplace. I encourage everyone in our community to make physical and mental safety a priority not just in October but each and every day.
MR GUPTA: Minister, can you outline how the government will continue to support working Canberrans?
MS ORR: National Safe Work Month is an opportunity to celebrate our comprehensive, ongoing commitment as a government to promoting work safety. Everyone has a role and everyone can be a champion in creating safer workplaces. We are creating a stronger policy and regulatory environment to support our workers.
Following an independent review of work safety regulation by Nous consulting, this government has been hard at work taking steps to establish an even stronger regulatory framework for work safety by establishing an independent work safety commission.
All of us within this government understand how important a safe and secure job is for all Canberrans who can work. As a government, we are delivering the public services than Canberra needs and we can guarantee that as our city grows we will employ more people in secure jobs. We will continue to support working people right across the ACT, including apprentices, trainees and public service workers. Canberrans can trust that this government will always value safe and secure employment in this city.
Mental health—cannabis
MR HANSON: My question is to the Minister for Mental Health. I refer to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare cannabis information page, and I quote from it:
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