Concetta Fierravanti-Wells (NSW, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister representing the Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations. Is the minister aware of the existence of any extreme and ideologically driven industrial relations laws in Australia? If so, what is the government’s response to this legislation?

Eric Abetz (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Minister for Fisheries, Forestry and Conservation) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Fierravanti-Wells for her excellent question. I am aware of legislation which is certainly Australia’s—if not the world’s—most extreme and ideologically driven industrial relations legislation. It has in fact been described as the harshest of its kind in the world. And no, I am not referring to the Howard government’s extremely good, job-creating Work Choices laws—laws which led to the creation of a net total of another 57,400 new full-time jobs last month, keeping unemployment at a record 30-year low. Rather, I am talking about the New South Wales Occupational Health and Safety Act, which was introduced in the wake of the Gretley mine disaster, in which four coalminers tragically died.

Under this extreme legislation, employers are presumed guilty even if the events are beyond their control. They are obliged to ensure a safe workplace, even though ILO conventions only require an employer to ensure a safe workplace to the extent that is reasonably practicable. Employee disobedience, negligence or folly is no defence. Trials are before the New South Wales Industrial Relations Commission with no appeal to the courts unless a death is involved. Unions can bring prosecutions and have their legal costs covered by defendants, and parties bringing a case get to keep half the fine. In other words, unions can and do make money out of OHS prosecutions.

Yesterday the New South Wales Industrial Relations Commission dismissed an appeal by two companies convicted over the Gretley mining tragedy. Surprisingly, while the mining company and some of its senior staff were prosecuted, the CFMEU owned company which actually employed three of the killed miners was not prosecuted—nor was the New South Wales Department of Mineral Resources, which supplied the wrong maps that were the major factor in the tragedy.

But Gretley is not an isolated case. Take the New South Wales Police Force, which was prosecuted under these laws when a drunk driver crossed two lanes of traffic to run down a policeman. Or how about the plumber who was prosecuted because of a faulty valve he installed but did not manufacture? Earlier this year the New South Wales Labor government itself finally decided that enough was enough and it sought to deal with these laws. But under pressure from New South Wales unions—in particular, the CFMEU, who cynically exploited people’s natural sympathies for those Gretley miners who tragically lost their lives—the New South Wales government backed down.

The saddest thing about this whole saga is that these draconian laws do not make workplaces safer. The New South Wales accident rate is above the Australian average. Significantly, since these extreme laws were passed in 2000, New South Wales has had the lowest job growth rate of any state in the country. So I simply say to Mr Rudd that this is a matter which is beyond cliches, this is a matter which demands action—and he can show his leadership mettle today by demanding that New South Wales cooperate on a federal basis and get rid of these anti-job extreme industrial relations laws.