Mr J. BULL (Sunbury) — It gives me great pleasure to speak on the Treasury and Finance Legislation Amendment Bill 2016. I did note earlier there were some young people in the gallery, and if ever there was a reason to ensure that safe workplaces exist, it was evident here today. Mums, dads, aunties, uncles and friends of these young people should all go to work knowing that they will come home safely, and every Victorian and every Australian deserves to be safe at work. This bill aims to improve the fairness, as the member for Essendon has so well put, of workplace injury compensation.

I just want to briefly touch on what have been some outstanding advertising campaigns by WorkSafe over many years. No doubt honourable members will remember these ads and also remember these slogans — slogans like ‘The most important reason for workplace safety is not at work at all’ and those like ‘It doesn’t hurt to speak up’, which focused on 15 to 24-year-olds who may be less likely to stand up and speak to a boss about a possible hazard in their workplace. ‘Safety doesn’t take a holiday’ was a Christmas message which focused on the importance of being safe over the festive season, and another one that comes to mind is ‘There’s nothing like getting back to work for getting better’.

These were fantastic advertising campaigns that I think many members will be able to recall. They were in a series of wonderful messages that I think all Victorians should certainly remember and in particular all employers should certainly remember. They are important in helping educate the community and they are important in helping workers and employees in workplace safety, although good education needs to be supported by good enforcement, and that is what this bill is all about.

It is worth noting that workplace safety is not necessarily a given, and I am sure that members in the house will be able to recall certain instances where they have either seen poor workplace practices themselves or heard stories from family and friends. I can recall, certainly in other countries around the world, practices which certainly are concerning and are not equal to ours. As a result hundreds, if not thousands, of people have been killed at work, and these are workers who could have been saved.

Like many of you, I have seen workers at high heights without harnesses, using power tools near water, operating machinery without guards and on scaffolding put together with string — all of these things we know are just not safe, and all of these things jeopardise the lives of our loved ones. I quote the member for Carrum, who in her contribution to this debate said that an injury to one is an injury to all. I thought that was a fantastic quote. The member mentioned that the trade union movement has played a critical role in workplace safety, and that should never be forgotten. Let me also put on the record my support for the movement, which aims to improve safety and conditions for all workers.

The Andrews government understands the importance of fair compensation for those injured at work. We want to prevent any injury from occurring in the first place, because safety at work should be everyone’s no. 1 priority. This bill works to ensure that companies found guilty of reckless endangerment are penalised accordingly, and in so doing it works towards preventing harm at work.

This government believes in a stronger, safer and fairer Victoria. We know that today too many accidents happen at work. Too many fathers, mothers, brothers and sisters do not come home from work as a result of a workplace injury. They end up hospitalised, and the member for Essendon spoke about that in his contribution to the debate. It certainly breaks your heart when you hear of or see those who have been injured at work; their life is, in an instant, changed forever as a result of a workplace injury.

If we look directly at this bill, we see the bill ensures that the Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004 and the Workplace Injury Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 2013 (WIRC act) operate as intended and that Victoria’s workers compensation scheme provides fair, just and sustainable compensation to those who have unfortunately been injured at work. The bill amends the Occupational Health and Safety Act to increase the maximum penalty for a corporate body found guilty of an offence of reckless endangerment. The bill also includes a number of minor technical amendments, which other members have spoken about, to clarify aspects of the OHS act and the Workplace Injury Rehabilitation and Compensation Act.

The bill increases the maximum penalty for a corporate body found guilty of an offence of reckless endangerment under the OHS act to address the inadequacy of the current penalty. At present we are looking at 9000 penalty units, which equates to $1 365 000.30. The chief justice has raised concerns about the adequacy of the penalty, which will be moved to 20 000 penalty units. The bill also makes a number of other minor amendments of a technical nature to the OHS act and the WIRC act.

All members of this house would agree that one death at work is one too many. Safe Work Australia reported that as at 20 April 41 Australian workers had been killed at work this year. These statistics were split across accommodation and food services, agriculture, forestry, fishing, construction, health and community services, manufacturing, transport and storage, mining and also retail and trade.

WorkSafe states on its website that the key aim of WorkSafe’s health and safety prosecutions is to deter non-compliance with Victoria’s health and safety laws and to prevent workplace and work-related deaths, injuries and diseases. Prosecution action may be taken whether or not a breach has resulted in death, injury or disease. Related aims of prosecution action include the promotion of good occupational health and safety standards, values and practices. The key aim of WorkSafe’s workers compensation prosecutions is to deter non-compliance and to maintain the integrity of the workers compensation scheme.

If we look directly at the amendments that will be made by the bill — and I know a number of honourable members have spoken about them — we see that clauses 3 and 4 deal with workers compensation legislation. Where a person is entitled to and in receipt of weekly payments as a statutory minimum and the amount of state average weekly earnings as published by the Australian Bureau of Statistics reduces in a subsequent financial year, then the person’s payment will not reduce but remain at the same level as the previous year. This is known as the no-disadvantage rule. The rule has always been intended to apply in this way across the board for all workers as a statutory maximum, but differences in the published figure from one year to the next could mean that some workers will receive weekly payments at a higher amount as compared to others, depending on whether their entitlement to weekly payments rises.

Clause 3 clarifies that the reduction in figures for the state average weekly earnings will not lead to different weekly payment amounts for workers who are paid at the statutory maximum, based on the financial year in which their entitlement to weekly payment arises. This amendment ensures consistency, transparency and equity in the payment of compensation for injured workers.

I started my contribution by discussing the importance of workplace safety in making sure that those who are injured at work are fairly compensated. As a government and as a Parliament we need to make sure we are doing everything we possibly can to make sure that every Victorian who goes to work is provided with a safe, fair and secure working environment. This is important for so many reasons. It is important for the loved ones — the friends and family — and it is important for the economy to make sure that we know that as a state and as a government we are doing everything we can to assist those who are injured at work. I am very pleased to see that the penalty has effectively doubled. We are looking at a doubling of the penalty to make sure that those companies which do the wrong thing or which are found to be in breach of the regulations will be penalised accordingly.

I commend the minister for bringing this bill to the house and for his work in ensuring that workplace safety is the no. 1 priority of this government. Going back to the member for Carrum’s comments, I think all members understand, regardless of the side of the house to which they belong, that the most important things we can have in a workplace are safety, security and fairness. I commend the bill to the house.