The state government has reiterated its concerns about elements of the proposed national Occupational Health and Safety Regime, saying it will be inferior to Western Australia's existing regime.
The announcement is below:
The Western Australian State Government has used today's Workplace Relations Ministerial Council (WRMC) to reiterate its concerns about elements of the proposed national Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) regime.
Western Australian Commerce Minister Troy Buswell said the State Government supported the principle of nationally harmonised laws but could not support the introduction of an OHS regime which would adopt inferior standards to the existing State regime.
"We will continue our dialogue with the council but at this stage we are not committing to a system that we are not convinced is in the best interests of Western Australian workers and businesses," Mr Buswell said.
"A key concern is that the national harmonisation process could result in the high standards of WA's occupational health and safety laws being significantly diminished.
"We remain committed to the process and will consider the new model OHS laws in the spirit of co-operation, but we feel it has a long way to go before it outweighs the current tripartite process that operates very well for all stakeholders here in WA."
While Western Australia is prepared to accept the vast majority of recommendations of the review panel, the Government told today's WRMC that it was unable to support the recommendations regarding:
- The introduction of a conciliation concept for resolution of issues
- Power for Health and Safety Representatives to stop work
- Reverse onus of proof for discrimination issues
- Level of penalties
- Right of entry.
WA also raised its concerns about the two-thirds majority voting process to be adopted by the council, saying it had the potential to be open to abuse in future decision-making processes.
