Page 3946 - Week 09 - Thursday, 25 August 2011
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The bill mirrors the Work Safety Act 2008 in that it defines a worker widely to provide protection to people who may be engaged on a site under the direction of a duty holder but who are not directly engaged by that duty holder. In this regard the bill maintains the duties we established under the Work Safety Act 2008. The bill also defines the primary duty holder as a person conducting a business or undertaking, a concept that this government introduced with the Work Safety Act 2008. Under this more comprehensive definition, a person holding a duty includes a body corporate, or an unincorporated body or partnership.
The definition applies to activities whether they are conducted alone or with others, for profit or not for profit, and with or without the engagement of workers. This provision will cover a broad range of work relationships and business structures. As we have found, the concept of a person conducting a business or undertaking provides greater day-to-day certainty about safety duties by removing the ambiguity that may arise, for example, between a principal contractor and subcontractors.
I will briefly touch on the issue of volunteers. Disappointingly, there is much misinformation bandied about the impact of this legislation on volunteers and volunteer organisations. I acknowledge the important contribution volunteering organisations make and I have offered, and reiterated here, that the resources of government will be made available to talk thorough the details of the bill with any volunteer organisation concerned about the operation of this legislation. But there is nothing in this bill that places any more onerous requirements on volunteers than exists under current legislation.
There have been some suggestions that volunteer organisations will have to close down because of harmonisation, and this is not true. In preparing the model laws all parties have been mindful of volunteers and their organisations to ensure the laws do not place inappropriate duties on them. A balance has been achieved between providing volunteers with appropriate safety protections and ensuring that individuals are not deterred from undertaking this work, and we will continue to work with all those groups if they are concerned.
I would like to re-emphasise the consultation that has taken place during the development of these laws. I cannot stress that enough in the interests of harmonisation and realising all of the benefits that it will bring. I look forward to seeing these laws implemented throughout Australia and to seeing improvements in efficiency as well as safety as a result of these laws. I thank the Assembly for providing me with extra time to finish this speech. I commend the bill to the Assembly.
Question put:
That this bill be agreed to in principle.
The Assembly voted—
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