Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That the amendments be disagreed to.

The amendments moved by the Senate to the Safe Work Australia Bill 2008 are opposed by the government, and they are opposed by the government for one simple reason: in July this year, the Council of Australian Governments agreed to a historic decision—that is, to take action, finally, on harmonising occupational health and safety laws around this country. This has been a long sought after reform. Indeed, it was so long sought after that it made an appearance on the agenda of the former Liberal government, the Howard government, but like so many other things that appeared on the Howard government’s agenda the Howard government talked but got nothing done.

In February 2006, when the Howard government was in office, COAG did agree to develop strategies to improve the development and uptake of national occupational health and safety standards. But after that agreement there was no effective further action. It therefore fell to this government to actually commence a reform that has been long sought after—long sought after by the business community and long sought after by those who care passionately about occupational health and safety standards for Australian workers.

In entering into the Intergovernmental Agreement for Regulatory and Operational Reform in Occupational Health and Safety, the Commonwealth entered a very specific agreement with our state and territory colleagues. It was a specific agreement about the creation of a new body, the subject of this legislation, Safe Work Australia. We also, as part of that agreement, agreed that we would use our best endeavours to have enacted the legislation required to establish Safe Work Australia as outlined in the intergovernmental agreement. That is, in order to reach a historic agreement with our state and territory colleagues, we agreed with them on the shape of Safe Work Australia and we agreed with them that we would use our best endeavours to ensure legislation passed in the form that they wanted—a Safe Work Australia in the form that they were expecting.

I understand that in the lead-up to the making of the intergovernmental agreement various participants in the discussions may have had different views. That is to be expected when the Commonwealth, states and territories are working on a historic deal—that people would come to the table with differing perspectives—but the essence of moving in this area, and indeed the essence of ending the blame game between the Commonwealth and states and territories, is for people to sit around a table, make an agreement and then for that agreement to be adhered to. The Commonwealth will adhere to the things we agree to do in the intergovernmental agreement. That means that we will seek passage of the Safe Work Australia Bill unamended by the amendments that are before the House today because that delivers on the obligations the Commonwealth took upon itself in entering into this agreement.

I would note that the amendments that have been moved and appear before the House today are also amendments that do not come to this parliament in a good spirit. As I indicated in the parliament last week and as the leaked shadow cabinet submission of the Liberal Party makes clear, these amendments are not motivated by a desire to improve this legislation; they are motivated by a desire to put provisions into the legislation that will ultimately derail this process. This is unacceptable to the government and should be unacceptable to anyone who cares about occupational health and safety harmonisation. The government says that these amendments should be disagreed to. The government will pursue passage of this bill in the form that the government presented it—without these amendments in it. Should it be necessary, because the Liberal Party pursues this course of folly, the government will not further proceed with this bill. The government will report to COAG that occupational health and safety harmonisation has been derailed by the Liberal Party and the process delayed. And the government will ensure that that is reported to the business community and that the business community understands the spoiler role the Liberal Party has taken.

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