Stuart Henry (Hasluck, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

The Productivity Commission’s report No. 27, National workers’ compensation and occupational health and safety frameworks, recommended that the Australian government amend the Occupational Health and Safety (Commonwealth Employment) Act to enable those employers who are licensed to self-insure under the Comcare scheme to elect to be covered by the Australian government’s occupational health and safety legislation. The OHS and SRC Legislation Amendment Bill 2005 implements the government’s response to that Productivity Commission report. Corporations licensed under the Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 1988 will also be covered under the Occupational Health and Safety (Commonwealth Employment) Act 1991.

This bill ensures that all Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Act licensees, both corporations and Commonwealth authorities, are covered by the Occupational Health and Safety (Commonwealth Employment) Act for occupational health and safety purposes. At present, Commonwealth authorities and licensed private sector corporations which operate under the Commonwealth workers compensation scheme are covered by state and territory occupational health and safety legislation within the jurisdictions in which they operate. This makes it unnecessarily difficult for many firms to develop a national approach to occupational health and safety and can result in the requirement that they comply with eight separate and quite distinct occupational health and safety jurisdictions.

The amendments in this bill will provide all licensees under the Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Act with the benefits of operating under one occupational health and safety scheme, together with integrated prevention, compensation and rehabilitation arrangements. This will produce better health and safety outcomes all round for the employees of the affected bodies. These amendments will enable greater coordination and feedback between the workers compensation and the occupational health and safety arrangements. The time and resources currently expended in addressing jurisdictional boundary disputes caused by multiple compliance regimes can be better redirected to achieve greater overall efficiencies.

Importantly, savings can be devoted to further improving health and safety in the workplace. All Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Act licensees will be covered by the Occupational Health and Safety (Commonwealth Employment) Act. These will include Commonwealth authorities and non-Commonwealth licensees. The title of the Occupational Health and Safety (Commonwealth Employment) Act will be amended to the Occupational Health and Safety Act 1991. This will take into account that non-Commonwealth entities will now be covered. It will ensure Comcare’s ability to levy from all Commonwealth authorities a contribution towards the administration of the occupational health and safety act. As it currently stands, the definition of a Commonwealth authority is different in the Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Act. This prevents Comcare from levying a contribution from entities not covered by the Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Act but covered by the Occupational Health and Safety (Commonwealth Employment) Act.

It is important that this bill be introduced in order to (a) provide certainty to Telstra in the event that they are fully privatised—the Telstra (Transition to Full Private Ownership) Bill 2003 removed Telstra from schedule 1 of the Occupational Health and Safety (Commonwealth Employment) Act, so it is no longer deemed to be a government business enterprise for the purposes of the act; and (b) provide coverage for Optus, which, although self-insured under the Comcare scheme, does not have coverage under the Occupational Health and Safety (Commonwealth Employment) Act because it does not fit the definition of a Commonwealth authority or government business enterprise.

Recent mischievous campaigns against the Workplace Relations Amendment (Work Choices) Act 2005 have incorrectly asserted that workplace safety will be compromised by promoting greater flexibility in the workplace. While Work Choices will result in more workers moving to the federal industrial relations system, the reforms will not impact on state and territory jurisdiction over workers compensation and occupational health and safety.

Legislation imposes a duty of care on employers to protect the health and safety of their employees. This duty of care includes providing a safe working environment and safe systems of work and encompasses risks associated with fatigue. As is currently the case, employers, employees and their representatives will need to be conscious of their responsibilities under the occupational health and safety legislation in negotiating any change to working hours arrangements, including overtime and rest breaks.

The economic cost of workplace accidents to workers, employers and the community is currently estimated to be in excess of $30 billion annually or some five per cent of gross domestic product. The responsibility for this must be shared by all stakeholders. We must all act to make continual improvements. The answer is not to introduce laws that are punitive and which punish the employer above all else. The best way to address this issue is by promoting a culture where there is greater cooperation between employers and their employees. In this respect, it is the Commonwealth that is leading the way in promoting an environment in which employers and employees are encouraged to take a cooperative approach to identifying and eliminating hazards that may cause injury or death.

The Australian government is strongly committed to improving occupational health and safety outcomes in all Australian workplaces. Improvement in Australia’s occupational health and safety performance can be achieved through governments, employers and employees taking a cooperative and non-adversarial approach to workplace health and safety issues. The coalition—

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