Eric Abetz (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Minister for Fisheries, Forestry and Conservation) Share this | Hansard source

I just threw that in to see if you were listening, and it is good that you are. Positions can also remain vacant for extended periods where no union member is nominated. There is nothing sinister about the employer arranging the elections for health and safety representatives. New South Wales, for instance, has a similar provision. Employers are under a duty of care to ensure that workplaces are safe. Having health and safety representatives is an important component of having safe workplaces. It is therefore reasonable to place an obligation on employers to make sure that elections for health and safety representatives are conducted. In the event that employees are not happy with the election arrangements proposed by employers, the bill enables elections to be conducted in accordance with processes prescribed by regulation.

Section 16 is being amended to replace the current prescriptive elements which require an employer to develop an occupational health and safety policy in consultation with involved unions. Instead, section 16 will be more outcomes focused. This will allow employers, in consultation with their employees, to develop health and safety management arrangements tailor made to the needs of their particular workplace. The bill gives employees a wider choice as to who may represent them, including another employee, a registered association such as a union, an association of employees which has a principal purpose of protecting and promoting the employees’ interests in matters concerning their employment such as a staff association or an unregistered union.

Finally, I would like to assure senators that the measures proposed in this bill, in particular the proposed new section 16B, do not violate any implied constitutional freedom of association or Australia’s ILO obligations. It has been suggested that the mechanisms for ensuring employee anonymity proposed by new section 16B may prove to be a strong deterrent to employees seeking representation in consultation with employers about safety management arrangements. These concerns totally misunderstand and misrepresent the intended operation of section 16B.

Section 16B enables the CEO of Comcare to certify that a union or staff association is entitled to represent an employee who wishes to remain anonymous. A certificate issued by the CEO of Comcare guarantees that employee’s anonymity. Section 16B provides a mechanism to protect an employee’s identity if the employee wishes to keep his or her choice about their representation confidential. It is not a precondition to unions or staff associations representing their members. If section 16B were to be deleted, there would be no mechanism to provide employees with confidentiality.

The key amendments in this bill relate to the employer’s duty of care and the workplace arrangement provisions. They will improve health and safety arrangements for Commonwealth employers and employees by enabling them to work more closely together to develop arrangements that suit the needs of their particular workplace. Current workplace arrangements, such as the requirements to have health and safety representatives and committees, remain.

In short, the amendments aim to remove prescriptive requirements, introduce flexibility and ensure employers and employees are free to develop appropriate health and safety arrangements to apply to their workplace. The amendments will not in any way diminish the Commonwealth’s duty of care as an employer to ensure the health and safety of its employees at work or of others who may be at the workplace. I commend the bill to the Senate.

Question agreed to.

Bill read a second time.