Madeleine King (Brand, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Northern Australia) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

This this bill be now read a second time.

Throughout our history, Australia's prosperity has been closely tied to the success of our resources sector.

The contribution of the resources sector to Australia's national prosperity is significant, and it continues to play an essential and irreplaceable role supporting our economic wellbeing today.

The Australian Government will always support a strong and resilient resources sector, and in supporting the sector we have a responsibility to ensure the ongoing health and safety of its workers.

Nothing is more important than ensuring that every worker can come home safely at the end of a shift, or at the conclusion of a lengthy swing away from family and friends to the comfort of their homes.

It is therefore incumbent on Governments to review and update our rules and regulations governing resources sector safety to ensure those rules and regulations remain fit-for-purpose.

The Bill I am introducing to the Parliament today achieves this objective.

Improving offshore safety

This Bill proposes amendments to the Offshore Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas Storage Act 2006 to improve safety outcomes for Australia's offshore resources sector workforce.

The Bill implements outcomes of a review of the offshore safety regime for offshore resources sector workers which was undertaken by the Department of Industry, Science and Resources between 2019 and 2021. This review recommended several improvements to ensure that Australia's offshore resources safety regime continues to provide an effective, leading best practice framework for ensuring the health and safety of the offshore resources sector workforce.

The Department of Industry, Science and Resources identified several additional measures to further strengthen Australia's offshore safety regime, which include improvements to operational health and safety, workforce health and wellbeing, and effective administration of the regime by the regulator.

The Department of Industry, Science and Resources worked closely with stakeholders throughout the review process and during subsequent policy analysis. A representative group comprising employers, the workforce, unions and state and territory governments were consulted extensively throughout the review. A public consultation process was also undertaken.

This bill will implement the outcomes of the safety review, with additional reforms implemented by subsequent amendments to the Offshore Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas Storage Safety Regulations 2009 to be finalised following the passage of this bill.

The key safety measures in this bill will:

The reforms proposed in this bill will improve safety outcomes for Australia's offshore resources sector workforce. Several of the measures included in the bill will also drive greater alignment between Australia's offshore petroleum safety regime and the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 and its regulations.

Several measures identified in the safety review will be implemented in regulation following passage of the bill. Some of these measures will be implemented through revisions to existing provisions, such as strengthening reporting obligations around sexual harassment, while others create new provisions.

The regulations are supported by existing powers in the Offshore Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas Storage Act 2006. Where this is not the case, the bill inserts new regulation-making powers in the Offshore Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas Storage Act 2006. The government will consult on development of these regulations before they are made.

Improving jurisdictional interface in Australia's offshore areas

To further enhance safety outcomes in Australia's offshore resources industry, the bill introduces amendments to clarify the validity of certificates issued under the Navigation Act 2012 to provide greater regulatory certainty for disconnectable facilities.

The proposed amendments will apply certain aspects of Commonwealth maritime legislation to disconnectable facilities that, from time to time, may need to disconnect to navigate away from cyclones or to undertake maintenance. These amendments will ensure that vessel safety certificates remain valid when a disconnectable facility transitions between the maritime and offshore petroleum regime, and this will improve safety outcomes.

Enhancing offshore regulatory frameworks

It is essential that the environmental management regulatory framework for offshore petroleum and greenhouse gas storage activities remains fit for purpose. In addition to enhancing safety outcomes for Australia's offshore resources sector workforce, this bill introduces amendments to enable changes to be made to the environment regulations under the Offshore Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas Storage Act 2006while maintaining the validity of streamlined arrangements endorsed under section 146B of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999.

In February 2014 the federal Minister for the Environment endorsed the National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority's regulatory processes as a program that meets the requirements of part 10 of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999. Subsequently, the minister also approved a class of actions which, if undertaken in accordance with the endorsed program, will not require separate referral, assessment and approval under the EPBC Act 1999. The endorsed program reflects the offshore environmental regulations under the Offshore Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas Storage Act 2006 that were in place at that time. However, the program cannot be amended to reflect changes to strengthen and improve those regulations over time.

The amendments proposed in this bill will enable changes to be made to the Offshore Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas Storage (Environment) Regulations 2023while ensuring that those changes do not impact the application of streamlined approval arrangements already in place under section 146B of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999.

The Australian government is reviewing the offshore environmental management framework for petroleum and greenhouse gas activities to ensure the regime is fit-for-purpose and is appropriately designed to enable our economy to decarbonise over time. The amendments proposed in this bill will support implementation of the outcomes of this review.

Minor and technical amendments

The bill proposes additional minor and technical amendments to ensure the ongoing effective operation of the Offshore Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas Storage Act 2006.

The amendments will:

The bill, together with regulation changes in response to the safety review, will further strengthen the occupational health and safety outcomes for the offshore resources industry and make improvements to the operation of the Offshore Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas Storage Act 2006. The bill represents the government's ongoing commitment to improve occupational health and safety outcomes for Australia's offshore resources sector workforce.

I commend the bill to the chamber.

Debate adjourned.