❓ A parliamentary question regarding the inevitability of fatalities in the mining industry receives a detailed response from the Minister, highlighting the inherent risks and government efforts to minimise them, while refraining from offering guarantees.
AnsweredQoN 198Legislative Council
QuestionView source ↗
MINE SAFETY
Does the minister believe that mining will inevitably result in fatalities? Hon NORMAN MOORE
Does the minister believe that mining will inevitably result in fatalities? Hon NORMAN MOORE
AnswerView source ↗
This is the sort of question that sometimes one is asked by a journalist: have you stopped beating your wife? It is that sort of question. There is no way in the world that any minister for mines can say that there will never be a fatality in the mining industry. Indeed, when the member was the Minister for Employment Protection, he could not have given such an assurance either. No minister for mines can do that any more than a minister for transport can make an assurance that nobody will be killed on the roads. That is because, as we were saying in an earlier debate today, there are elements of risk attached to many things we do in life and society does its best to ensure that we minimise those risks. However, it is impossible with respect to virtually everything we do in industry to give an absolute guarantee that nobody will ever be injured or fatally injured, regrettably. All governments can do, and what this government is doing, is to put in place the processes and the requirements for industry to minimise the risks that apply on mine sites. As the member knows, mine sites can be fundamentally dangerous places, just as construction sites are fundamentally dangerous. I think I mentioned the other day that in the second half of 2009 the mining industry was the fifth most dangerous industry in Australia; there are four others that are statistically more dangerous. Therefore, I make the point that for reasons that escape me, people tend to concentrate their attention on safety in the mining industry and sometimes forget about safety in other industries. It seems to be a media preoccupation. To answer the member’s question, I cannot give any guarantees that there will never be another fatality in the mining industry; I just hope and pray that there will not be.
Hon NORMAN MOORE replied: This is the sort of question that sometimes one is asked by a journalist: have you stopped beating your wife? It is that sort of question. There is no way in the world that any minister for mines can say that there will never be a fatality in the mining industry. Indeed, when the member was the Minister for Employment Protection, he could not have given such an assurance either. No minister for mines can do that any more than a minister for transport can make an assurance that nobody will be killed on the roads. That is because, as we were saying in an earlier debate today, there are elements of risk attached to many things we do in life and society does its best to ensure that we minimise those risks. However, it is impossible with respect to virtually everything we do in industry to give an absolute guarantee that nobody will ever be injured or fatally injured, regrettably. All governments can do, and what this government is doing, is to put in place the processes and the requirements for industry to minimise the risks that apply on mine sites. As the member knows, mine sites can be fundamentally dangerous places, just as construction sites are fundamentally dangerous. I think I mentioned the other day that in the second half of 2009 the mining industry was the fifth most dangerous industry in Australia; there are four others that are statistically more dangerous. Therefore, I make the point that for reasons that escape me, people tend to concentrate their attention on safety in the mining industry and sometimes forget about safety in other industries. It seems to be a media preoccupation. To answer the member’s question, I cannot give any guarantees that there will never be another fatality in the mining industry; I just hope and pray that there will not be.
This is the sort of question that sometimes one is asked by a journalist: have you stopped beating your wife? It is that sort of question. There is no way in the world that any minister for mines can say that there will never be a fatality in the mining industry. Indeed, when the member was the Minister for Employment Protection, he could not have given such an assurance either. No minister for mines can do that any more than a minister for transport can make an assurance that nobody will be killed on the roads. That is because, as we were saying in an earlier debate today, there are elements of risk attached to many things we do in life and society does its best to ensure that we minimise those risks. However, it is impossible with respect to virtually everything we do in industry to give an absolute guarantee that nobody will ever be injured or fatally injured, regrettably. All governments can do, and what this government is doing, is to put in place the processes and the requirements for industry to minimise the risks that apply on mine sites. As the member knows, mine sites can be fundamentally dangerous places, just as construction sites are fundamentally dangerous. I think I mentioned the other day that in the second half of 2009 the mining industry was the fifth most dangerous industry in Australia; there are four others that are statistically more dangerous. Therefore, I make the point that for reasons that escape me, people tend to concentrate their attention on safety in the mining industry and sometimes forget about safety in other industries. It seems to be a media preoccupation. To answer the member’s question, I cannot give any guarantees that there will never be another fatality in the mining industry; I just hope and pray that there will not be.
Hon NORMAN MOORE replied: This is the sort of question that sometimes one is asked by a journalist: have you stopped beating your wife? It is that sort of question. There is no way in the world that any minister for mines can say that there will never be a fatality in the mining industry. Indeed, when the member was the Minister for Employment Protection, he could not have given such an assurance either. No minister for mines can do that any more than a minister for transport can make an assurance that nobody will be killed on the roads. That is because, as we were saying in an earlier debate today, there are elements of risk attached to many things we do in life and society does its best to ensure that we minimise those risks. However, it is impossible with respect to virtually everything we do in industry to give an absolute guarantee that nobody will ever be injured or fatally injured, regrettably. All governments can do, and what this government is doing, is to put in place the processes and the requirements for industry to minimise the risks that apply on mine sites. As the member knows, mine sites can be fundamentally dangerous places, just as construction sites are fundamentally dangerous. I think I mentioned the other day that in the second half of 2009 the mining industry was the fifth most dangerous industry in Australia; there are four others that are statistically more dangerous. Therefore, I make the point that for reasons that escape me, people tend to concentrate their attention on safety in the mining industry and sometimes forget about safety in other industries. It seems to be a media preoccupation. To answer the member’s question, I cannot give any guarantees that there will never be another fatality in the mining industry; I just hope and pray that there will not be.
This is the sort of question that sometimes one is asked by a journalist: have you stopped beating your wife? It is that sort of question. There is no way in the world that any minister for mines can say that there will never be a fatality in the mining industry. Indeed, when the member was the Minister for Employment Protection, he could not have given such an assurance either. No minister for mines can do that any more than a minister for transport can make an assurance that nobody will be killed on the roads. That is because, as we were saying in an earlier debate today, there are elements of risk attached to many things we do in life and society does its best to ensure that we minimise those risks. However, it is impossible with respect to virtually everything we do in industry to give an absolute guarantee that nobody will ever be injured or fatally injured, regrettably. All governments can do, and what this government is doing, is to put in place the processes and the requirements for industry to minimise the risks that apply on mine sites. As the member knows, mine sites can be fundamentally dangerous places, just as construction sites are fundamentally dangerous. I think I mentioned the other day that in the second half of 2009 the mining industry was the fifth most dangerous industry in Australia; there are four others that are statistically more dangerous. Therefore, I make the point that for reasons that escape me, people tend to concentrate their attention on safety in the mining industry and sometimes forget about safety in other industries. It seems to be a media preoccupation. To answer the member’s question, I cannot give any guarantees that there will never be another fatality in the mining industry; I just hope and pray that there will not be.
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