Daryl Melham (Banks, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. I refer to the government’s Occupational Health and Safety (Commonwealth Employment) and Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Amendment Bill. Is it not the case that this bill, together with the active encouragement of the government, will allow private companies which operate across different states to move from state jurisdictions to the Commonwealth jurisdiction for occupational health and safety matters? Won’t this have the effect that such multistate private employers will be subject to a less stringent enforcement mechanism for occupational health and safety than is currently the case? For example, in New South Wales alone in 2004-05, 203 Commonwealth workplace visits took place and 20,892 New South Wales workplace inspector visits. Prime Minister, post-Beaconsfield, how is this improving occupational health and safety in the workplace of the future?

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