❓ The Minister outlines Safe Work Australia Week activities in WA, highlighting a forum and the importance of provisional improvement notices. He raises concerns about the impact of WorkChoices on workplace safety and potential worker victimisation.
AnsweredQoN 775Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
SAFE WORK AUSTRALIA WEEK
This week - the minister may not be aware - is Safe Work Australia Week, and a number of activities are being organised across Australia to promote the importance of occupational safety and health. Given the noise from the opposition during the minister’s ministerial statement - I could not hear anything - can the minister please advise of some of the activities happening in Western Australia, and also advise on the effects of the WorkChoices system on occupational safety and health matters? Mr J.J.M. BOWLER
This week - the minister may not be aware - is Safe Work Australia Week, and a number of activities are being organised across Australia to promote the importance of occupational safety and health. Given the noise from the opposition during the minister’s ministerial statement - I could not hear anything - can the minister please advise of some of the activities happening in Western Australia, and also advise on the effects of the WorkChoices system on occupational safety and health matters? Mr J.J.M. BOWLER
AnswerView source ↗
I thank the member for the question. The fact of the matter is that there is nothing more important for the men and women of Western Australia than that they can go home to their loved ones each day safe and sound. Sadly, Safe Work Australia Week started on a bad note in Western Australia when an electrician was killed in one of Perth’s northern suburbs. Although we have come a long way in the workplaces across all states, it brings home the fact that we still have a long way to go and that just one death is one death too many in the workplace. That is why Safe Work Australia Week, which is held in all six states, is very important to highlight the need to improve safety in our workplaces. There will be a number of activities in Western Australia. The main one will be tomorrow at the Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre when 630 people will attend a forum at which we will highlight the activities of the past year and, hopefully, further highlight the activities that we expect to achieve in the coming 12 months. The trend is that workplace safety has been improving across Western Australia for a number of years. However, it is starting to level off. The downward trend has been arrested. We believe the best way to reverse that trend and get it going down again is through provisional improvement notices in the workplace. That involves safety representatives in the workplace issuing PINs because the people at the coalface, the people doing the work each day, are the ones who usually see the danger or a problem arise and are best placed to issue improvement notices on the spot. One of the problems we have is that since the advent of WorkChoices, when workers cry foul and they point out an unsafe situation, there is retribution; they are being victimised. Mr C.J. Barnett : Any examples? Mr J.J.M. BOWLER : In two words - Mal Peters. There are many other examples that my office comes across each week in which workers are starting to feel victimised and feel they cannot issue PINs without fear or favour. This is a dangerous situation and one that I hope we can arrest. We need to make sure that we send the message to all workplaces in Western Australia that if workers see a dangerous situation, they should be able to expose that dangerous situation without fear or retribution.
Mr J.J.M. BOWLER replied: I thank the member for the question. The fact of the matter is that there is nothing more important for the men and women of Western Australia than that they can go home to their loved ones each day safe and sound. Sadly, Safe Work Australia Week started on a bad note in Western Australia when an electrician was killed in one of Perth’s northern suburbs. Although we have come a long way in the workplaces across all states, it brings home the fact that we still have a long way to go and that just one death is one death too many in the workplace. That is why Safe Work Australia Week, which is held in all six states, is very important to highlight the need to improve safety in our workplaces. There will be a number of activities in Western Australia. The main one will be tomorrow at the Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre when 630 people will attend a forum at which we will highlight the activities of the past year and, hopefully, further highlight the activities that we expect to achieve in the coming 12 months. The trend is that workplace safety has been improving across Western Australia for a number of years. However, it is starting to level off. The downward trend has been arrested. We believe the best way to reverse that trend and get it going down again is through provisional improvement notices in the workplace. That involves safety representatives in the workplace issuing PINs because the people at the coalface, the people doing the work each day, are the ones who usually see the danger or a problem arise and are best placed to issue improvement notices on the spot. One of the problems we have is that since the advent of WorkChoices, when workers cry foul and they point out an unsafe situation, there is retribution; they are being victimised. Mr C.J. Barnett : Any examples? Mr J.J.M. BOWLER : In two words - Mal Peters. There are many other examples that my office comes across each week in which workers are starting to feel victimised and feel they cannot issue PINs without fear or favour. This is a dangerous situation and one that I hope we can arrest. We need to make sure that we send the message to all workplaces in Western Australia that if workers see a dangerous situation, they should be able to expose that dangerous situation without fear or retribution.
I thank the member for the question. The fact of the matter is that there is nothing more important for the men and women of Western Australia than that they can go home to their loved ones each day safe and sound. Sadly, Safe Work Australia Week started on a bad note in Western Australia when an electrician was killed in one of Perth’s northern suburbs. Although we have come a long way in the workplaces across all states, it brings home the fact that we still have a long way to go and that just one death is one death too many in the workplace. That is why Safe Work Australia Week, which is held in all six states, is very important to highlight the need to improve safety in our workplaces. There will be a number of activities in Western Australia. The main one will be tomorrow at the Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre when 630 people will attend a forum at which we will highlight the activities of the past year and, hopefully, further highlight the activities that we expect to achieve in the coming 12 months. The trend is that workplace safety has been improving across Western Australia for a number of years. However, it is starting to level off. The downward trend has been arrested. We believe the best way to reverse that trend and get it going down again is through provisional improvement notices in the workplace. That involves safety representatives in the workplace issuing PINs because the people at the coalface, the people doing the work each day, are the ones who usually see the danger or a problem arise and are best placed to issue improvement notices on the spot. One of the problems we have is that since the advent of WorkChoices, when workers cry foul and they point out an unsafe situation, there is retribution; they are being victimised. Mr C.J. Barnett : Any examples? Mr J.J.M. BOWLER : In two words - Mal Peters. There are many other examples that my office comes across each week in which workers are starting to feel victimised and feel they cannot issue PINs without fear or favour. This is a dangerous situation and one that I hope we can arrest. We need to make sure that we send the message to all workplaces in Western Australia that if workers see a dangerous situation, they should be able to expose that dangerous situation without fear or retribution.
The trend is that workplace safety has been improving across Western Australia for a number of years. However, it is starting to level off. The downward trend has been arrested. We believe the best way to reverse that trend and get it going down again is through provisional improvement notices in the workplace. That involves safety representatives in the workplace issuing PINs because the people at the coalface, the people doing the work each day, are the ones who usually see the danger or a problem arise and are best placed to issue improvement notices on the spot. One of the problems we have is that since the advent of WorkChoices, when workers cry foul and they point out an unsafe situation, there is retribution; they are being victimised. Mr C.J. Barnett : Any examples? Mr J.J.M. BOWLER : In two words - Mal Peters. There are many other examples that my office comes across each week in which workers are starting to feel victimised and feel they cannot issue PINs without fear or favour. This is a dangerous situation and one that I hope we can arrest. We need to make sure that we send the message to all workplaces in Western Australia that if workers see a dangerous situation, they should be able to expose that dangerous situation without fear or retribution.
Mr C.J. Barnett : Any examples? Mr J.J.M. BOWLER : In two words - Mal Peters. There are many other examples that my office comes across each week in which workers are starting to feel victimised and feel they cannot issue PINs without fear or favour. This is a dangerous situation and one that I hope we can arrest. We need to make sure that we send the message to all workplaces in Western Australia that if workers see a dangerous situation, they should be able to expose that dangerous situation without fear or retribution.
Mr J.J.M. BOWLER : In two words - Mal Peters. There are many other examples that my office comes across each week in which workers are starting to feel victimised and feel they cannot issue PINs without fear or favour. This is a dangerous situation and one that I hope we can arrest. We need to make sure that we send the message to all workplaces in Western Australia that if workers see a dangerous situation, they should be able to expose that dangerous situation without fear or retribution.
Mr J.J.M. BOWLER replied: I thank the member for the question. The fact of the matter is that there is nothing more important for the men and women of Western Australia than that they can go home to their loved ones each day safe and sound. Sadly, Safe Work Australia Week started on a bad note in Western Australia when an electrician was killed in one of Perth’s northern suburbs. Although we have come a long way in the workplaces across all states, it brings home the fact that we still have a long way to go and that just one death is one death too many in the workplace. That is why Safe Work Australia Week, which is held in all six states, is very important to highlight the need to improve safety in our workplaces. There will be a number of activities in Western Australia. The main one will be tomorrow at the Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre when 630 people will attend a forum at which we will highlight the activities of the past year and, hopefully, further highlight the activities that we expect to achieve in the coming 12 months. The trend is that workplace safety has been improving across Western Australia for a number of years. However, it is starting to level off. The downward trend has been arrested. We believe the best way to reverse that trend and get it going down again is through provisional improvement notices in the workplace. That involves safety representatives in the workplace issuing PINs because the people at the coalface, the people doing the work each day, are the ones who usually see the danger or a problem arise and are best placed to issue improvement notices on the spot. One of the problems we have is that since the advent of WorkChoices, when workers cry foul and they point out an unsafe situation, there is retribution; they are being victimised. Mr C.J. Barnett : Any examples? Mr J.J.M. BOWLER : In two words - Mal Peters. There are many other examples that my office comes across each week in which workers are starting to feel victimised and feel they cannot issue PINs without fear or favour. This is a dangerous situation and one that I hope we can arrest. We need to make sure that we send the message to all workplaces in Western Australia that if workers see a dangerous situation, they should be able to expose that dangerous situation without fear or retribution.
I thank the member for the question. The fact of the matter is that there is nothing more important for the men and women of Western Australia than that they can go home to their loved ones each day safe and sound. Sadly, Safe Work Australia Week started on a bad note in Western Australia when an electrician was killed in one of Perth’s northern suburbs. Although we have come a long way in the workplaces across all states, it brings home the fact that we still have a long way to go and that just one death is one death too many in the workplace. That is why Safe Work Australia Week, which is held in all six states, is very important to highlight the need to improve safety in our workplaces. There will be a number of activities in Western Australia. The main one will be tomorrow at the Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre when 630 people will attend a forum at which we will highlight the activities of the past year and, hopefully, further highlight the activities that we expect to achieve in the coming 12 months. The trend is that workplace safety has been improving across Western Australia for a number of years. However, it is starting to level off. The downward trend has been arrested. We believe the best way to reverse that trend and get it going down again is through provisional improvement notices in the workplace. That involves safety representatives in the workplace issuing PINs because the people at the coalface, the people doing the work each day, are the ones who usually see the danger or a problem arise and are best placed to issue improvement notices on the spot. One of the problems we have is that since the advent of WorkChoices, when workers cry foul and they point out an unsafe situation, there is retribution; they are being victimised. Mr C.J. Barnett : Any examples? Mr J.J.M. BOWLER : In two words - Mal Peters. There are many other examples that my office comes across each week in which workers are starting to feel victimised and feel they cannot issue PINs without fear or favour. This is a dangerous situation and one that I hope we can arrest. We need to make sure that we send the message to all workplaces in Western Australia that if workers see a dangerous situation, they should be able to expose that dangerous situation without fear or retribution.
The trend is that workplace safety has been improving across Western Australia for a number of years. However, it is starting to level off. The downward trend has been arrested. We believe the best way to reverse that trend and get it going down again is through provisional improvement notices in the workplace. That involves safety representatives in the workplace issuing PINs because the people at the coalface, the people doing the work each day, are the ones who usually see the danger or a problem arise and are best placed to issue improvement notices on the spot. One of the problems we have is that since the advent of WorkChoices, when workers cry foul and they point out an unsafe situation, there is retribution; they are being victimised. Mr C.J. Barnett : Any examples? Mr J.J.M. BOWLER : In two words - Mal Peters. There are many other examples that my office comes across each week in which workers are starting to feel victimised and feel they cannot issue PINs without fear or favour. This is a dangerous situation and one that I hope we can arrest. We need to make sure that we send the message to all workplaces in Western Australia that if workers see a dangerous situation, they should be able to expose that dangerous situation without fear or retribution.
Mr C.J. Barnett : Any examples? Mr J.J.M. BOWLER : In two words - Mal Peters. There are many other examples that my office comes across each week in which workers are starting to feel victimised and feel they cannot issue PINs without fear or favour. This is a dangerous situation and one that I hope we can arrest. We need to make sure that we send the message to all workplaces in Western Australia that if workers see a dangerous situation, they should be able to expose that dangerous situation without fear or retribution.
Mr J.J.M. BOWLER : In two words - Mal Peters. There are many other examples that my office comes across each week in which workers are starting to feel victimised and feel they cannot issue PINs without fear or favour. This is a dangerous situation and one that I hope we can arrest. We need to make sure that we send the message to all workplaces in Western Australia that if workers see a dangerous situation, they should be able to expose that dangerous situation without fear or retribution.
Explore WA Government Data
Search the full archive in the free dashboard, or query programmatically via API.
Explore more
Government Gazette
Appointments, regulatory notices, planning changes.
Hansard
Debates, questions, speeches and sentiment.
Tabled Papers
Reports and documents tabled in Parliament.
Committees
Committee profiles and recent reports.
Regulations
Subsidiary legislation with filters and summaries.
Bills
Proposed laws and parliamentary progress.
Acts
Current WA legislation and summaries.
Explanatory Memoranda
Bills with EMs (text/PDF) available.
Members
MP profiles, party breakdown and rankings.
Pollie Rankings
Data-driven rankings across 19 categories.
Amendment Chains
Track how schemes and regulations evolve over time.