Fiona Nash (NSW, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak in support of the OHS and SRC Legislation Amendment Bill 2006. Each and every one of us privileged to serve in this place is very proud of the states and territories that we represent. We are particularly privileged to represent the people, communities and businesses that collectively make up our states and territories. Our role is to do all we can in this place to best represent the interests of those people in their communities. Many of those businesses do not operate in isolation; they do not operate in single-town scenarios. Many of the people in the businesses that we represent have a network of presence not just in a particular region or across a state or territory but right across this great nation.

An unfortunate 21st-century consequence of Federation is that businesses which operate on a national basis are forced in the case of occupational health and safety legislation to operate in eight separate and distinct jurisdictions. Such a situation indeed presents an impediment for many businesses who are trying to do the right thing by their workforce and develop a national approach to OH&S. Why is this an impediment? It is because these businesses are required to comply with the laws of those eight various jurisdictions—very separate and very distinct jurisdictions. The Productivity Commission inquiry report No. 27, National workers compensation and OH&S frameworks, recommended that this 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 OH&S legislation.

This bill will implement the Liberal-National government’s response to the Productivity Commission. Those corporations licensed under the Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 1988, the SRC Act, will also be covered under the Occupational Health and Safety (Commonwealth Employment) Act 1991. There has been some comment that the desire of this federal government is to weaken OH&S. That is just a nonsense. We have heard that a couple of times in here tonight. Nothing could be further from the truth and those who are saying that are simply trying to scaremonger when the government has a very strong and very good track record in OH&S.

The OHS and SRC Legislation Amendment Bill proposes to deliver something that state and territory governments should have done some time ago, which is to ensure that there is harmony in OH&S requirements. This is particularly important for those businesses that operate on a national scale. Quite frankly, if the states had moved down that track, if they had been committed to ensuring there was harmonisation, then this government would not be having to move these amendments.

I noted earlier that Senator Wong said—and I hope I am not misunderstanding her; it certainly seemed very clear—that lack of uniformity can be a significant cost burden and that uniformity should be a priority. We could not agree more; it is just a little unfortunate when we have the New South Wales minister John Della Bosca leaving the Australian Safety and Compensation Commission meeting only a matter of a few weeks ago. What kind of commitment to ensuring that we get this harmonisation is walking out of a meeting that is designed purely to pull people together and to try to find a way forward? If that is the Labor state government’s approach to trying to find harmonisation then it is sadly lacking.

The amendments that the government is putting forward deliver a common-sense outcome for those businesses who become licensees operating under the Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Act. These amendments are all about common sense. Section 100 of the Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 1988 gives the Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations the power to declare certain corporations as eligible to apply for a workers compensation self-insurance licence under the SRC Act. Licensees under the SRC Act will include Commonwealth authorities and non-Commonwealth authorities. These licensees will benefit from operating under one OH&S scheme, which will produce better health and safety outcomes for employees. This amendment will deliver overall efficiencies that currently cannot be realised because of the OH&S requirements of eight separate and quite distinct jurisdictions.

This amendment is not rocket science; it is an amendment that just makes good common sense. The efficiencies to be realised by not having to comply with eight separate and quite distinct jurisdictions have the potential to deliver real savings which licensees could devote to improving health and safety in the workplace, which is an outcome we all want: the best health and safety in the workplace that we can possibly have.

OH&S legislation imposes a duty of care on employers to protect the health and safety of their employees. It certainly does appear that the state run workers compensation and OH&S schemes are a monopoly. We need to change that environment so that businesses can grow and we get the best outcomes for employers and employees. I ask the question: why are the states opposing the federal government on this front in the High Court? Why are they opposing a sensible national approach for employers to participate in a federal workers compensation scheme? Could it be that the Labor states are scared of competition? Surely not. The Labor state and territory governments are not possibly scared of competition. If they are not, why are they so determined not to see these amendments go forward?

Surely if those state governments were confident that their workers compensation, OH&S schemes and environment were the best possible ones to deliver, they would not be concerned about the federal government’s arrangements. Let’s face it: a lack of competition equals a lack of performance. We on this side of the chamber know that only too well. We on the government side of the chamber believe in competition and the benefits it delivers. Indeed, it is the failure by the states to get on and harmonise the occupational health state legislation that has forced the hand of this government to introduce these very sensible amendments to the legislation.

The state governments are even opposing the right of national employers to join the federal workers compensation scheme. What the states should be doing is abandoning their self-interest objections and focusing on the challenges of running a modern business. By their approach, it seems that the Labor states are stuck in the Dark Ages. As the Australian Financial Review said in its editorial on 4 August:

There is no logical reason for workers’ compensation to be exempted from national competition reform and no reason why firms operating nationally should have to deal with the eight separate compensation schemes run by states and territories.

The government recognises the real impediments that are put in front of businesses operating on a national scale as a result of this environment. I am told that about a dozen businesses, including the national transport operator Linfox and the National Australia Bank, have quit state run schemes to self-insure under the Commonwealth authority Comcare. I listened with interest earlier when Senator Sterle talked about his previous life in the transport industry.