Page 4103 - Week 12 - Tuesday, 22 October 2019
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
description of the operating environment of the office; performance criteria for the office; and procedures for the oversight and management of risk within the office.
Again, consistent with the message of transparency to facilitate better communication about the activities, functions and directions of the regulator, the strategic plan will also be a notifiable instrument and will be published on the office’s website. It will provide all stakeholders with a clear view of the direction of the office over the ensuing four years.
In addition to the two documents that I have described already, this bill would, every 12 months and following consultation with the Work Health and Safety Council, require the minister to make a statement setting out the priority activities and initiatives of the office, known as the statement of expectations, and give it to the Work Health and Safety Commissioner. In response, the commissioner would then be required to give the minister a draft statement of operational intent, setting out how the office will give effect to those expectations. Along with the compliance and enforcement policy and the strategic plan, the statement of expectations and the statement of operational intent are notifiable instruments.
The OECD best practice principles of regulatory policy outline the importance of measuring and evaluating the performance of regulators in order to both demonstrate their effectiveness to stakeholders and help drive improvements and enhanced systems and processes internally. Transparent measurement and evaluation of the office is built into every aspect of the bill.
The four-year strategic plan must include performance criteria for the office and, importantly, the effectiveness of the office will be measured and reported each year in the annual report. Specifically, the annual report must include a statement from the chair of the WH&S Council about the performance of the office during the reporting year; about the effectiveness of compliance and enforcement activities undertaken by the office during the reporting year, taking into account the compliance and enforcement policy; and also about the implementation by the office of the strategic plan during that financial year. The annual report must also include any statement of expectations—a statement of operational intent, in effect—during the reporting year and the extent to which the statement of operational intent was met.
Enhanced transparency and accountability are also provided by the declaration of the office as a separate reporting entity for the purposes of the Financial Management Act 1996. This declaration requires the office to produce separate financial statements and budget information, allowing stakeholders to scrutinise the funding and the resources of the office.
These four documents that I have outlined, developed in consultation with representatives of both workers and employers, together with the annual report, will provide all stakeholders with clarity around what to expect from the work health and safety regulator, their strategic priorities and the directions of the office, how the performance of the office will be measured and how it performs against those measures.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video