Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . .

Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2003 Week 13 Hansard (27 November) . . Page.. 4867 ..

MS MacDONALD (continuing):

actually learnt in that year, working on a number of sites. I remember my friends from the CFMEU-and I rang my friend Cameron Murphy today to refresh my memory, because I couldn't remember exactly and I wanted to get the details from him-speaking of one instance where workers were treating timber by soaking it in cyanide. These workers weren't using the appropriate safety gear because it slowed them down. The employers were saying, "That's okay. It slows them down; it slows down productivity; we can't have that."I remember them talking about that.

Cameron said he didn't remember the exact circumstances of that, but a similar situation had happened at Laminex in Wagga, where the chipboard was soaked in formaldehyde. Once again, they were putting the masks on, taking the masks off; it slowed down productivity. The workers had to take breathing apparatus on and off; they didn't wear it all the time that they were working, just when they were working with the formaldehyde. So some of those workers decided that this was just too much of an irritant; they stopped doing it. Those workers were irresponsible for doing that, but they weren't necessarily aware of what the end results would be. Some workers stopped doing it and, as I said, what ended up happening as a result, Mr Deputy Speaker, was that this made those workers faster than the other workers, because they didn't have that situation slowing them down, and it placed pressure on the others to do the same.

Why did it place pressure on the others? Because management was saying, "That's okay; we like the fact that productivity has increased; we want you to increase your productivity so that we can meet the enterprise bargaining agreement conditions; that way you can get a pay increase at the end of the day; and that way we look good to the owners of the company."As I said, Mr Deputy Speaker, the company was aware that it was happening, and they were quite happy for these unsafe practices to go on because of the increased productivity. (Extension of time granted.)

You might say, "Well, what's the problem with that? What is the problem with saying, 'That's okay; don't wear your masks; you increase your productivity; it's okay; it's only formaldehyde'?"The problem was that workers were developing coughs; they were having difficulty breathing; and some of them started coughing up blood. Mr Deputy Speaker, if the union hadn't intervened, it may very well have been that some of those workers would have had irreparable damage done to their health or, indeed, ended up dead.

This isn't acceptable. It is never acceptable, Mr Deputy Speaker. The company was complicit in the damaging of the health of these workers. As I said, it is not acceptable, and this government will not allow that sort of thing to happen. We are going to send out the message to people in this territory that it's not acceptable to allow unsafe practices to take place-whether that be by actively promoting unsafe practices, being complicit in it or just an error of omission; they couldn't be bothered fixing it up.

On a happier note: I would like to say that I did actually say to Cameron in the conversation today, "You did end up fixing it up, didn't you?"He went, "Yes, we fixed it up; we pulled them out and we made sure that the breathing apparatus was put back and the correct health and safety procedures were followed."

Mr Deputy Speaker, I would like to thank all those people who have contributed to the debate. I would even like to thank the employer organisations for contributing to the

Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . .