Doug Cameron (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Human Services) Share this | Hansard source

I was not intending to speak on this report. I happen to be here for chamber duty. But listening to those very forceful contributions from senators, I thought that as a former national union official and someone who has witnessed workers being killed and who had to talk to their families I just had to say a few things about this report on industrial deaths in Australia. Firstly, I thank those senators involved in the report and those senators who have contributed to what should be significant changes to protect workers at work in this country. I also acknowledge the families who are here and thank them for being here and for their involvement and support for the inquiry.

Senator Brockman spoke about statistics. I don't think anyone really sees a worker who is maimed, injured or killed at work as simply a statistic. As Senator O'Neill said, they're a father, a brother, a sister, a grandfather, a husband or a wife. They're a friend. This is just a terrible situation. And I know that we talk about statistics a lot in this place. But I don't think Senator Brockman should have been quoting statistics at such a time. It's a terrible situation that families find themselves in. One death is one death too many. One death means that a family is in grief, that a family has lost a loved one, that a family's life is changed forever. It's just unacceptable in a modern society that people who profit from the labour of working class Australians are not held accountable for the death of that worker and the tragedy that it brings on individual families and communities around this country.

The last time I spoke in this place about a worker being killed was in relation to a young man who was killed at the Barangaroo ferry hub, Mr Tim Macpherson—a young man with a young family, his whole life before him, with a fantastic wife and a young family—just taken from us because he was unlucky enough to be working on a rust bucket barge that shouldn't have been in New South Wales. It came down from Queensland and didn't have the proper certificates to undertake that journey. The health and safety on that barge were poor, the conditions were terrible and Tim ended up dead—unacceptable.

The union movement have been calling for industrial manslaughter laws in this country for I think longer than the Greens have even been a party. I remember having these debates over 20 years ago in my union, the AMWU. These calls grew even louder when we saw the behaviour of James Hardie when they knew that their product was killing their employees. James Hardie covered it up, James Hardie made huge profits and James Hardie did that with impunity. If ever there was a reason, regardless of all the other families that have suffered terribly, James Hardie on their own should have been enough in this country to hold businesses accountable for their lack of concern and their breaches of safety against working people in this country.

I remember the then state secretary of the AMWU—Paul Bastian, a great Australian and a great trade unionist—going over to Holland and chasing James Hardie, who were moving their business headquarters around the world to try to avoid their responsibility for working people in this country. Paul Bastian did a great job, supported by Greg Combet. The union movement and the ACTU did a fantastic job. I remember the coalition and John Howard opposing the ban on the importation of asbestos in this country. I remember watching a great mate of mine—the former president of the AMWU, Brian Fraser, who was a big, six-foot-plus Irishman—dying with mesothelioma. He couldn't grab a breath. The companies and the insurance companies tried to avoid any responsibility. We had deathbed hearings to deal with it. Workers don't get a fair go in this country. Employers get it far too easy when it comes to workplace deaths.

I do want to acknowledge Senator Williams. Senator Williams was a farmer. Senator Williams knows what happens to farmers in this country and to workers in the farming sector. It is one of the most dangerous industries in the country. I was fortunate enough for Senator Williams to support me when I was arguing for the National Workers Memorial, which has been built in Canberra with the support of Senator Williams. We can build as many memorials as we like, but it is important to recognise the symbolic importance of the workers who built this country. We had memorials for everything in Canberra, but nothing for the workers who died building this country. I acknowledge and thank Senator Williams for the support he gave in ensuring that the National Workers Memorial was built.

I just finish on this: if the coalition government spent a fraction of the amount of money they spend on attacking the trade union movement and on stopping trade union officials from getting on to jobs to support workers then there would be far fewer deaths in this country. We've got an organisation, the ABCC, that is a disgrace. It gets in there and stops workers getting access to their union so that the union can make sure they are on safe work sites. Not only is there a need for laws to be changed on penalties, regulations and legislation to hold employers accountable but there need to be changes in legislation in this country to allow workers to get access to their union so that the unions can make sure that they go home safely. This is a huge issue.

Again, I want to express my sympathy to the families that are here. I can tell you that the Labor Party will continue to do whatever we need to do to make sure that your tragedy doesn't happen to other families.