Page 813 - Week 05 - Thursday, 6 July 1989
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acknowledge that some offences are more serious than others, and indeed there was general discussion as to whether there should be terms of imprisonment and the degree of penalties. The committee felt that certainly penalties should be provided for but that there were some incongruities with the penalties. Some offences which seemed more serious carried less of a penalty than others which seemed less serious.
There seems to be a disparity with penalties ranging up from $5,000. For example, there are penalties for a natural person of up to $20,000 without a custodial sentence; in other instances there are penalties in the nature of fines of $5,000 or imprisonment for one year, or both, and fines of $10,000 or imprisonment for two years, or both. There is one instance indeed where someone tampering with safety equipment could be fined $5,000 or imprisoned for one year but someone tampering with a notice, which would seem to be a much lesser offence, could be fined $10,000 or imprisoned for two years.
The committee has formed the opinion that there need to be either guidelines or a consistent and appropriate policy in relation to penalties to be imposed by the legislation. We recommend that at an appropriate time the Executive table for the information of the Assembly guidelines to be followed when establishing penalties to be imposed by the legislation and that, following the tabling of penalty guidelines in the Assembly, the penalty provisions of the Bill be reviewed by the Assembly.
We made some further recommendations in relation to training, that information on the provision of health and safety training programs by both the ACT Institute of TAFE and the Trade Union Training Authority and the appropriate means of funding such courses be available; also, that the employer could choose where people are sent for training.
In the schedule attached to this report we suggested amendments to the Bill to give effect to our comments on regulations, and I commend that to you. One of our other recommendations was that a standing committee on subordinate legislation be established. That occurs in most other parliaments in Australia, and we feel that is a necessity here.
We recommended also, in relation to publicity, that the Executive, through a major publicity campaign, inform the community of the roles and responsibilities of the designated work groups, the Occupational Health and Safety Council, health and safety representatives, health and safety committees and the registrar and inspectors, penalties imposed by the legislation and benefits to be gained from comprehensive occupational health and safety practices.
We recommended in relation to COMCARE that the Executive holds discussions with the commission for the safety,
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