Page 2401 - Week 06 - Friday, 27 June 2008

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as multiple choices. Accordingly any attempt to provide a breakdown of demand on a geographical basis will not provide an accurate picture of demand at that level.

Public service—workers compensation
(Question No 2062)

Mrs Burke asked the Minister for Industrial Relations, upon notice, on 6 May 2008:

(1) Did the Occupational, Health and Safety (OHS) Commissioner’s report detail several concerns for effective governance of OHS and worker’s compensation for the ACT Public Service in the Scope and Structure Report dating back to as early as 1994 including concerns that (a) the Act notification requirements are out of step with other Australian jurisdictions, (b) a high level of non compliance with regulatory requirements, which in practice were not investigated in a timely or effective manner, (c) the Occupational Health and Safety Act 1989 (OH&S Act) is unsupported by an appropriate body of regulations and that this could potentially pervert the course of justice according to the Commissioner; if so, what has the OHS Council and the Minister done to rectify these unsafe work practices and governance;

(2) Were all ACT public servants placed under a compensation scheme which the Stanhope Government had been advised was detrimental to public servants, for example, as the right to common law remedies recently they lost journey claims under the OH&S Act and that the ACT Workers Compensation Review Final Report in 2007 recommended that the ACT Government commence exploring withdrawing from the Comcare Scheme and becoming a self-insured entity under the ACT Private Sector Scheme; if so, has this commenced and if so, (a) when did this occur and (b) is it proving successful; if not, how is the Minister attending to these serious work place concerns in the public interest and obvious detriment to ACT public servants;

(3) Did the review of Comcare and the moratorium on licensees under Comcare reveal that the Minister’s governance of ACT Public Sector workers’ rights under Comcare would not meet the no disadvantage test as required under industrial relations legislation; if so, does the Minister intend to overhaul the OH&S Act to clarify duties, remove redundant provisions; if so, will there be consultation and when and how will that occur;

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