Joe Ludwig (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Manager of Government Business in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

I am advised that it is a matter for the report to be advised to the minister. It is about ‘the performance of the CEO’s function under paragraph 45(1)(b) (assisting Safe Work Australia); or ... requiring the provision of a report or advice on a matter relating to Safe Work Australia’s functions.’ It is a way of keeping the minister and who the minister may want to advise—that is, the ministerial council—about the work and nature of Safe Work Australia. It would be a matter for the minister to determine whether that report should or should not be more broadly disseminated—or, as these things go, if it is a mundane or routine report, one would not ordinarily make it available. If it was a significant report the minister would make a decision as to whether the report would be provided. Of course, it could touch upon serious issues—I cannot second-guess what they may be—relating to preventing an injury or death, which the minister may find they cannot make public for all the reasons that you would understand. Or it could be a more perfunctory report that the minister wants to make public because it provides good information about Safe Work Australia. I imagine that that is how it would operate, but the short answer is that it would be a matter for the minister to decide.