Motion
HON MATTHEW SWINBOURN (East Metropolitan) [ 11.30 am ] — without notice: I move —
That this house notes the importance of safety in the workplace and the need for vigilance to minimise death and injury of workers throughout Western Australia.
[speeches and comments of various members]
HON ALISON XAMON (North Metropolitan) [ 12.03 pm ]: I rise in support of the motion and thank the member for bringing such an important issue to this chamber. I disagree with one comment made by Hon Michael Mischin; I think it is important that we talk about the number of fatalities, because that is obviously the absolute worst outcome that can occur, with life-long effects for the people who are left behind. Indeed, this is one reason I have personally done so much work around the issue of worker safety, both previously as a union official but also in my time in the Parliament, because I believe it is one of those areas that deserves to get far more attention than it does. There is a lot more that government could be doing to ensure that our workplaces are safe and to ensure that people are able, at the end of the day, to go home to their families where they belong.
There is a disturbing number of injuries that occur and, as has been pointed out, diseases that are contracted through the course of employment, as well as deaths. I, for one, think this should be the source of front-page news every time it occurs, because workplace deaths are pretty much avoidable. I have been asking some questions about what is happening with the number of deaths on notice and also the activities of Worksafe. I wanted to know how many work-related fatalities had occurred on Western Australian worksites in recent times, because I wanted to get the most recent figures. What I can tell members is that for the 2016 – 17 reporting period, I was advised that there were 11 confirmed work–related traumatic injury fatalities. The fatalities occurred in the following industry divisions: five in the construction industry; two in the electricity, gas, water and waste services industry; two in the agriculture, forestry and fishing industry; one in the accommodation and food services industry; and one in mining. Worksafe is still investigating 16 other work–related traumatic injury fatalities. That is a lot of people who have been killed and a lot of families who have been left absolutely devastated. There will be parents, spouses and children who will be left to live with the legacy of these deaths for the rest of their lives. If that is not an issue that every single member of this chamber needs to treat with utmost priority, then I am really struggling to think what is.
Just in response to some of the comments about Worksafe, I am one of those people who has been quite critical for a long time about the activities of Worksafe. It has been really difficult to fill the positions within Worksafe to get the appropriate number of inspectors. That is because, quite simply, we are not paying people the amount they need to be attracted to do that sort of work, particularly with the sort of expertise that is required. It has to be looked at as a matter of urgency. It has been a systemic problem that has been around for far too long. It is one reason we are not able to fill the number of places as well as we should. We need to ensure that we release funds to ensure that this occurs in the future. I want to acknowledge how important this is. One thing was done under the previous government that I agree with. I agreed with Hon Norman Moore , whom I normally disagree with on everything in the whole, wide world, on this particular issue. One thing he did as mines minister was to recognise that there was an issue in attracting appropriately qualified mines inspectors, so legislation was passed in this place to ensure that we were able to have packages and wages that were commensurate with the level of experience and expertise that was required to ensure that we had people who were qualified to go out onto the mines and who would be able to safely oversee what was happening on those sites. The data has demonstrated that it did certainly have an effect. It was a positive improvement. On that note, I note that this government has been talking about blending Worksafe and the mines safety inspectorate division. If those sorts of measures are going to occur, we need to ensure that we bring Worksafe up to the level of those inspectorates and not the other way round. I know there is genuine concern about how that is going to be rolling out within the mining industry. One particular concern is that the mining industry currently pays a levy that effectively pays for the expertise of those people to come out to inspect their sites. With the machinery of government changes, it is very unclear what is going to happen with those inspectorates and regimes. That is something I will be keeping a particularly close eye on, and I actually have some questions pending around this issue that I hope to get answers to. I have long been concerned about the culture within WorkSafe and a perceived, or maybe actual reluctance, to be proactive in a number of investigations. I hope that this very, very important government department starts getting the resources and attention that it deserves.
I will comment on the occupational health and safety laws. I am of the view that the time has long passed that we can simply look at adopting the harmonised laws; I was pushing for this seven years ago and it did not happen then. There is no doubt at all that our OHS laws and penalties are woefully inadequate. There are not enough provisions in our laws to look at a range of orders that need to be implemented, such as adverse publicity orders, work orders and training orders; the range of things that we need to ensure that our workplaces are as safe as possible. I hope this government will make some moves on that. I am very much aware that the mood within industry and certainly the unions at the moment is to simply not adopt the laws at this point because that ship has sailed. We need an overall review and we most certainly need to look at improving them. I will point out, of course, that I currently have on the notice paper the Criminal Code Amendment (Industrial Manslaughter) Bill 2017. I hope that this attention and concern around worker safety will result in ringing endorsement for that legislation — which is long overdue reform — when it comes time to debate it in this place. It is the case that people make decisions in the workplace that they know could feasibly result in a death. When a death does occur, they should be held liable for that death. Everyone in this place likes to talk about being tough on crime — well, you know what? This should be considered a crime, and I look forward to members supporting that particular bill. It is important that we have the potential for strong penalties hanging over errant employers.
I will make one final comment. When we talk about the whole regime around worker safety, I do not want us to ever ignore the importance of what is happening with mental health on worksites. I note that although it does not normally fall within the remit of what we deem to be worker safety, there is a concern around the correlation between the rate of suicides on some sites and what is happening on those sites. I give a big shout out to Mates in Construction for the sort of work it does trying to make sure that it draws attention to mental health and suicide prevention because it is everybody’s business and we need to be doing more. I always remain very concerned to ensure that we do not overlook the impact of precarious employment, bullying and the sorts of issues that occur in the workplace that can in themselves cause a whole range of issues in terms of mental health distress and potentially lead to suicide. It is a bit of a hidden one, but one that I think we need to be talking about explicitly.
I am really glad this motion has come up. Frankly, I would like us to talk about this issue every single week until there are no more fatalities and injuries on worksites. Unlike the views of other members, I think every single death on a worksite is potentially avoidable. That is exactly what we should be aiming for, and the government can play a really key role in that.