❓ Hon Ben Dawkins questions the Minister for Industrial Relations regarding union submissions on the Workers Compensation and Injury Management Bill 2023, specifically concerning the exclusion of contract workers and certain claims. The Minister denies excluding unions from consultation, stating changes were made based on stakeholder concerns.
AnsweredQoN 1192Legislative Council
QuestionView source ↗
WORKERS COMPENSATION AND INJURY MANAGEMENT BILL —
SUBMISSIONS
1192. Hon BEN DAWKINS to the parliamentary secretary
representing the Minister for Industrial Relations:
I refer to the passage of the
Workers Compensation and Injury Management Bill 2023 and the submissions of the Construction, Forestry, Maritime, Mining and
Energy Union and Australian Lawyers Alliance opposing clauses 12 , 7, 148
and 152 regarding excluding contract workers from coverage, excluding claims
for stress and psychological harm and closing off common law settlements under
section 92(f) of the 1981 act respectively. I note that UnionsWA and the
Community and Public Sector Union–Civil Service Association of WA did
not support the first two aforementioned reforms in their submissions either.
(1) Can the minister
confirm he personally read the submissions in relation to this bill from the
CFMEU and Unions WA?
(2) Given that by
ignoring the strong objections of the union movement, and the CFMEU in
particular, to the bill amounts to effectively excluding them from the
consultation process, will the minister convene an emergency meeting of every
union leader in the state as occurred when the CFMEU was excluded from a construction
industry working group earlier this year?
(3) Will the
minister ring Mick Buchan to personally apologise for the CFMEU being ignored,
in the same way that the Leader of the House rang Mick to apologise over the
construction working group fiasco?
SUBMISSIONS
1192. Hon BEN DAWKINS to the parliamentary secretary
representing the Minister for Industrial Relations:
I refer to the passage of the
Workers Compensation and Injury Management Bill 2023 and the submissions of the Construction, Forestry, Maritime, Mining and
Energy Union and Australian Lawyers Alliance opposing clauses 12 , 7, 148
and 152 regarding excluding contract workers from coverage, excluding claims
for stress and psychological harm and closing off common law settlements under
section 92(f) of the 1981 act respectively. I note that UnionsWA and the
Community and Public Sector Union–Civil Service Association of WA did
not support the first two aforementioned reforms in their submissions either.
(1) Can the minister
confirm he personally read the submissions in relation to this bill from the
CFMEU and Unions WA?
(2) Given that by
ignoring the strong objections of the union movement, and the CFMEU in
particular, to the bill amounts to effectively excluding them from the
consultation process, will the minister convene an emergency meeting of every
union leader in the state as occurred when the CFMEU was excluded from a construction
industry working group earlier this year?
(3) Will the
minister ring Mick Buchan to personally apologise for the CFMEU being ignored,
in the same way that the Leader of the House rang Mick to apologise over the
construction working group fiasco?
AnswerView source ↗
The following answer has been
provided to me by the Minister for Industrial Relations.
(1)–(3) The
subject matter of the question was considered at length during the committee
stage of the recent Workers Compensation and Injury Management Bill 2023. The
submissions referred to in the question that
were made by unions were related to the published draft bill. As was made clear
during the consideration of the bill,
many changes were made to the draft bill in the light of their and other
stakeholder concerns. The Minister for Industrial Relations and his
staff have regularly met with union leaders in Western Australia to discuss
these issues and many others. It is simply wrong to suggest that the CFMEU were
in any way excluded from consultations on the bill.
The member might
want to talk to the unions before he starts making allegations on their behalf.
The PRESIDENT :
Order!
Hon MATTHEW
SWINBOURN : That is part of my answer! It is part of Hansard now.
Hon Ben
Dawkins : Have you read the submissions?
Hon MATTHEW
SWINBOURN : Did you? Can you, even?
The PRESIDENT :
Order!
provided to me by the Minister for Industrial Relations.
(1)–(3) The
subject matter of the question was considered at length during the committee
stage of the recent Workers Compensation and Injury Management Bill 2023. The
submissions referred to in the question that
were made by unions were related to the published draft bill. As was made clear
during the consideration of the bill,
many changes were made to the draft bill in the light of their and other
stakeholder concerns. The Minister for Industrial Relations and his
staff have regularly met with union leaders in Western Australia to discuss
these issues and many others. It is simply wrong to suggest that the CFMEU were
in any way excluded from consultations on the bill.
The member might
want to talk to the unions before he starts making allegations on their behalf.
The PRESIDENT :
Order!
Hon MATTHEW
SWINBOURN : That is part of my answer! It is part of Hansard now.
Hon Ben
Dawkins : Have you read the submissions?
Hon MATTHEW
SWINBOURN : Did you? Can you, even?
The PRESIDENT :
Order!
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