Darren Chester (Gippsland, National Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Roads and Regional Transport) Share this | Hansard source

I appreciate the opportunity to participate in the debate in relation to the Work Health and Safety Bill 2011 and related legislation. In the short amount of time available to me this evening I would like to speak more generally on some of the issues that have been raised by speakers on both sides of the House most recently by my good friend and colleague the member for Cowan, who I think adopted a very common-sense approach to his presentation to the House this evening particularly in his recognition that issues of occupational health and safety matters are of great concern for members on both sides of the chamber. The member for Chifley also approached this debate in a very bipartisan way and made some points that I think reflected very well on the House that really no party and no member in particular owns this issue. It is an area where the former Whitlam government, as I understand from the contributions of members opposite, and also the former Howard government started the process of harmonisation of occupational health and safety laws.

I would like to make the point from the outset that while legislation and regulations are extremely important when it comes to occupational health and safety it must be stressed that workplace safety is everyone's responsibility. I think there is a broad recognition now in the community and I do give credit where it is due. The union movement is not always a topic of great enjoyment for me and I am not a great supporter of some of their tactics but I think the union movement has played a very important role in raising safety issues.

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