Page 4101 - Week 12 - Tuesday, 22 October 2019
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WorkSafe ACT enforces the territory’s health and safety and workers compensation laws through a mixture of education and compliance activities. In order to do this work effectively and efficiently, it makes sense for the agency to be independent of government, particularly if it is to act fairly in the interests of ACT government workers.
The Greens have a strong commitment to ensuring the health, safety and wellbeing of workers in Canberra. Over our time in the Assembly, we have worked to support and enhance the role of WorkSafe ACT and, in particular, to deal with bullying in our workplaces. As Minister for Mental Health, I am pleased that the government is acting to strengthen WorkSafe ACT and I welcome action on the recommendations of the independent review. The review noted:
Many stakeholders raised the importance of WorkSafe ACT broadening its focus and emphasis beyond construction and physical injuries to a wider range of industries, for example, health and community services, and beyond physical injuries to include psychosocial injuries that are cumulative including bullying, harassment, and mental health.
I hope that the revised scope of WorkSafe under these changes will allow for and support that work. I was pleased to note the commitment earlier this year from Minister Stephen-Smith, who was the minister at the time, to resource a dedicated psychological health officer to equip workplaces with the tools to support the social and emotional wellbeing of working Canberrans. That role has now commenced, and as Minister for Mental Health I will indeed take a great interest in the work, as well as seek to build on the mental wellbeing of Canberrans.
I think there is real scope to coordinate between the office for mental health and the new officer in this role. Certainly, from the updates I have had on the intent of this role and since the beginning of the work, and in my chats with WorkSafe ACT, I am very positive about the direction in which it is going and the intentions that are behind that role.
The recently released ACT public sector workplace mental health strategy “Healthy minds—thriving workplaces” also shows a welcome commitment from Minister Orr and the government to address mental wellness in workplaces. This bill works to clarify and enhance the role and reporting requirements for WorkSafe ACT through establishing the office of the Work Health and Safety Commissioner, an independent and separate entity under the Work Health and Safety Act. The increased reporting will allow for greater transparency for employers, employees and advocates working in this space and could serve as a further avenue to highlight issues requiring the attention of government and agencies outside Access Canberra, where WorkSafe ACT currently sits.
These are significant changes to the governance of work health and safety in the territory. They will reinforce and give added weight to the work of our frontline work health and safety staff, who are out there protecting and advocating for workplace safety and wellbeing on a daily basis. I commend them for their work. The Greens are pleased to support this bill in the Assembly today.
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