Jill Hall (Shortland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I commence my contribution to this debate on the Building and Construction Industry Improvement Amendment (OHS) Bill 2007 where the previous speaker, the member for Corio, ended. I record my support for the construction workers in the Shortland electorate and acknowledge the fine contributions that they have made in my community and surrounding communities. In doing so, I acknowledge the work that they put in for disadvantaged people and the projects and the campaigns that they get behind in supporting people that have particular problems within the community.

I will quickly go through the bill. The bill before us extends the application of the Australian Government Building and Construction Occupational Health and Safety Accreditation Scheme, which is administered by the Office of the Federal Safety Commissioner, to cover situations where building work is indirectly funded by the Commonwealth or Commonwealth authorities. It ensures that persons are accredited under the scheme at the time of entering into a contract for building work funded by the Commonwealth or Commonwealth authorities and that the Commonwealth or Commonwealth authorities take appropriate steps to see that such persons are also accredited while the building work is being carried out. It also extends the accreditation requirement to funding arrangements beyond those currently contemplated by the legislation. It clarifies that section 35(4) of the Building and Construction Industry Improvement Act 2005 only overrides Commonwealth provisions to the extent of any inconsistency. It streamlines the process of appointing federal safety officers and allows the Federal Safety Commissioner and persons working in the Office of the Federal Safety Commissioner to disclose information on the scheme to the minister.

I support the legislation that we have before us today, but in doing so I have some comments that I would like to make. Not all of those comments are supportive of the government and the government’s approach to this piece of legislation. Earlier I listened to the member for Corangamite reel out an ‘expose’ of every union official that has ever worked or been elected within Australia. He spent a lot of time denigrating those people. Those union officials, some of whom will be in this parliament after the next election, have made an enormous contribution to their industries and to our Australian community. I do not step away from the fact that in the Labor Party we have members who have ensured that workers have good conditions and safety within the workplace and who were there to look after them. In this current environment, where we have this harsh Work Choices legislation that this government foisted upon the Australian people, there really is a very strong need for workers to be protected. This legislation that has been forced on the Australian community is putting workers at risk and has the potential to put workers further at risk. I will talk a little bit more about that later.

The building industry, as we all know, is a very dangerous industry and a lot of evidence has been submitted to show that there have been very unsafe practices used within the building and construction industry over a number of years. A number of injuries have happened that should not have happened. Workers have been injured because they were pushed to a level beyond that to which they should have been pushed and because workers had not been trained properly in safety. I think there are a number of issues within that industry that will not be resolved by going out and attacking the union. Many of those problems have been brought about by employers, and the majority that I hear about are the result of employer driven activities.

Within the last couple of years a young man lost his life close to where I live. It happened purely and simply because he was forced to do things that a person should not be forced to do. When the government talks about the building and construction industry we hear a tirade of attacks on union officials, but we do not hear anything about the good things that they have done or the changes that they made to make those workplaces safer. I think any legislation, or any argument on a piece of legislation, should have some balance in it. Whilst the government commissioned the Cole inquiry and it brought down its findings, I think the terms of reference it was given were very limited and the report reflected those limited terms of reference.

Occupational health and safety is something that I am passionate about, having worked for many years with people who have been injured purely and simply because of unsafe work practices. Whilst supporting this legislation that we have before us now, I do not think that it is going to be the ultimate answer to improving safety within the building and construction industry. I believe that the government can either address occupational health and safety issues purely and simply by bashing unions or really look at the underlying issues, which go across many areas within this industry and other industries. The building and construction industry is an unsafe industry and has been for many years. I do not think that the legislation that we are debating today will solve that problem.

I see that the Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations has entered the chamber and I say to him: I listened to a lot of what you had to say. There was a lot of bluster and attack. But, Minister, I implore you, when you are looking at some of these issues, to look at them from the person’s perspective, from a whole-of-community perspective. When you are looking at the building industry, don’t just approach it from the perspective of attacking the union. When you look at safety, look at safety for the whole of the industry. Look at putting in place actual changes that are going to deliver a safe industry, a safe working environment. Good employers do the right thing; bad employers do the wrong thing. Good employees do the right thing; bad employees do the wrong thing.

Over the years, unions have made enormous contributions to safety in the workplace. Over the years the unions have done things that have improved our working environment. Minister, instead of always attacking, sometimes if you can sit down and talk and try to work together to resolve issues and don’t just make it a slagging match I think you get the best outcomes. Workplace safety is obtained by people working together and trying to bring all parties in and lead them forward so that you create a safe workplace and a safe environment. With those few comments, I will state once again for the record that I, along with other members on this side of the House, am supporting this legislation.

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