Page 4105 - Week 12 - Tuesday, 22 October 2019
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Specifically, recommendation 21 of the review states that the regulator should be established as an independent entity under the Work Health and Safety Act, using a single accountability governance model, with a statutory officeholder who holds the regulatory power and is responsible for all regulatory decisions. This bill will establish just that: a single accountability governance model that will support an effective regulator in the ACT.
This bill focuses on a number of key design principles in implementing the governance model, namely, independence, transparency, accountability and scrutiny. The bill would achieve this by establishing WorkSafe ACT with a formal title of office of the Work Health and Safety Commissioner. This office establishes the separate and independent entity of the regulator for the Work Health and Safety Act. Further, the bill would vest the regulator’s functions in a single statutory position of Work Health and Safety Commissioner.
The role of the WHS Commissioner is a new role. It is a position that will play a critical role in managing the office and exercising the functions of the regulator. The regulator, under the work health and safety legislation, not only enforces compliance with the obligations and duties applied to the private sector but also imposes obligations on the ACT government as an employer. For this reason, it is important that the regulator be independent in exercising its regulatory functions. In support of the independence of the office and the WHS Commissioner, the staff of the office and the WHS Commissioner will be independent officers in carrying out the regulatory functions under the work health and safety legislation. Additionally, the Work Health and Safety Commissioner will be appointed by the executive as a non-public servant and will be able to appoint staff for the office.
The bill removes an existing statutory commissioner role, and this is in response to issues raised in the review that the two currently separate roles of commissioner and regulator have contributed to a lack of clarity and some confusion.
To ensure that the important education and awareness-raising functions in relation to work health and safety issues are maintained under the new governance framework, these functions have been vested in the office for which the Work Health and Safety Commissioner is responsible. In establishing an independent entity as the regulator for work health and safety, it is also critical to ensure that there are appropriate mechanisms in place for the effective transparency, accountability and scrutiny of the activities of the regulator.
Mechanisms provided in the bill to support the transparency and accountability of the office include increased reporting requirements, including the preparation of an annual report; clarity as to the enhanced advisory functions of the Work Health and Safety Council; a requirement for the government’s expectations as to the priority activities and expectations for the regulator to be communicated to the Work Health and Safety Commissioner annually by the minister; a requirement to make a statement of operational intent that responds to the minister’s statement of expectations and supports the strategic plan for the office; increased focus on the strategic activities of the office by requiring a four-year strategic plan for the office; and a requirement to
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