Rachel Siewert (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

As indicated previously, the Greens will withdraw that amendment as we have just dealt with it. The Australian Greens oppose clause 57 in the following terms:

(6)   Clause 57, page 39 (lines 27 to 29), subclause (3) TO BE OPPOSED.

I realise that we have been talking about the termination of the appointment of the CEO. We believe that this amendment is an important amendment. It opposes the provision allowing for the minister to terminate the appointment of the CEO because the minister is of the opinion that the performance of the CEO has been unsatisfactory. Again, we believe it is inappropriate for the minister to have such a significant level of discretion over such an important position. If the minister is able to fire the CEO at will, we believe that this undermines the independence and tripartite nature of Safe Work Australia. We do not believe that this is an appropriate provision to have in this bill which sets up this particular agency.