Mark Arbib (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for Government Service Delivery) Share this | Hansard source

I take on board the comments from Senator Abetz, Senator Siewert and Senator Xenophon. I could not agree more with Senator Xenophon in talking about mesothelioma and asbestos and the need for workplace safety. My father was a builder in the 1970s and 1980s and he contracted mesothelioma. I remember as a young boy visiting him many times in hospital. It is a terrible illness. That is why the Safe Work Australia Bill 2008 [No. 2] is so important in harmonising OH&S laws across the country to ensure that employees in the workplace have the safety they need. Today is the first step, putting in place the body to oversee the national harmonisation, to supervise, monitor and implement the policies. It is a big step in the right direction.

A number of issues have been raised. This has been a difficult and painstaking process. It requires the agreement of every state parliament. I commend Minister Gillard for the work that she has personally been doing in negotiating this legislation with the states to ensure that the body being introduced will have the powers and the regulations it needs to undertake the job. I understand there are some disagreements about which organisations should constitute Safe Work Australia. Obviously, that will be debated and has been debated ad nauseam, as Senator Siewert pointed out. The government understands the concerns. But I again remind the Senate that negotiations have taken place with the states. An intergovernmental agreement has been reached through COAG. These laws will have to go back through the state parliaments, and so to backtrack by making amendments now will, I think, affect future legislation in every state and will place at risk the legislation we are debating today. The government remains firm and will be opposing the amendments. I thank the Senate.

Question agreed to.

Bill read a second time.