Ms THEOPHANOUS (Northcote): Thank you to the member for Bayswater for that impassioned contribution to this bill.
I rise with pleasure to speak in support of a bill that will go a long way towards protecting the health and safety of our workers, our communities and our precious environment.
Like most Victorians, I was horrified and heartbroken to hear of the serious injury caused to two workers earlier this year in the Campbellfield factory fire, which sent plumes of black smoke billowing into the sky and caused schools and kindergartens to shut, families to be terrified and businesses to close their doors.
One of those workers, Mr Vignesh Varatharaja, suffered serious burns when a chemical drum he was handling exploded in his face, which led to an induced coma.
This blaze and two others across Melbourne’s north happened because individuals and companies failed to meet their obligations when it came to the handling and storing of dangerous goods. They chose to cut corners when they should have been ensuring the safety of their workers and their communities.
This is unacceptable. We will never tolerate conduct that puts lives and livelihoods at risk. The daily risk faced by workers exposed to the mishandling of dangerous goods cannot be understated. That is why we are sending a strong and clear message to those doing the wrong thing: you are breaking the law and you will be held to account.
The Dangerous Goods Amendment (Penalty Reform) Bill 2019 delivers on our commitment to strengthen the penalties for wrongdoing under the Dangerous Goods Act 1985 through a number of changes, including the creation of a new offence for recklessly placing lives at risk through the mishandling of dangerous goods and increasing the maximum penalties for conduct that endangers the safety or health of another person, property or the environment.
Under the new offence individuals will face fines of over $600,000 and companies up to $6.6 million for reckless conduct in the manufacture, storage, transport, transfer, sale or use of dangerous goods that puts people’s lives in danger. The new offence will also carry a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison. Likewise offenders who endanger people, property or the environment will now face up to five years in prison. These are serious consequences—the highest penalties in the Dangerous Goods Act—and they are serious for a reason.
While thankfully no lives were lost in the recent fires, the terrible experience that Mr Varatharaja continues to recover from demonstrates the lasting impact these dangerous practices can have on workers. While in my view that is reason enough to act, the impact of these events goes far beyond the walls of a warehouse or the boundaries of an industrial area. First responders and surrounding communities are also affected. Hundreds of firefighters battled the blaze that engulfed a warehouse in West Footscray last August, covering large swaths of Melbourne’s west in smoke.
I acknowledge the contribution to this bill by the member for Footscray, whose account of these events demonstrates the enduring trauma to individuals, families and communities that occurs and how difficult it is to heal from that. As the member for Bayswater rightly noted, one of the firefighters, Thurston Darcy, spent around 40 hours fighting the West Footscray fire. Thurston ended up having to take four weeks of sick leave and spent a week in hospital under quarantine. His mild symptoms of itchy red eyes, a headache and nosebleeds rapidly became acute and debilitating. Most of the firefighters who attended the scene have experienced at least mild symptoms, and many local residents have reported respiratory illnesses, but physical illness is only one aspect of the true impact that the mishandling of dangerous goods can cause. The trauma and stress that these fires caused the local community is undeniable.
That same fire in West Footscray also impacted surrounding schools and kinders. Teachers used art therapy with the students to help them recover from the trauma associated with the fire.
As adults we feel the impact of catastrophes like this, and generally we have the tools to process them. For children, seeing black, gritty smoke filling the skyline, smelling the soot in the air, being hustled out of your classroom to blaring sirens—that sort of thing sticks with you for a long time. For children it can be the stuff of nightmares, a heartbreaking fact which, frankly, I find inexcusable.
As these recent fires have shown, the mishandling of dangerous goods also has serious consequences for the environment, particularly our air quality and the health of our waterways. This is an issue of particular concern for the people of the Northcote electorate, which is bordered by three waterways: Merri Creek, Darebin Creek and of course the Yarra River. Our creeks and waterways are such a big part of the character and health of our local environment in Northcote.
The potential for pollution and damage is keenly felt and greatly feared. Indeed as a result of the Footscray fire, nearby Stony Creek was contaminated by toxic chemicals and firefighting foam entering the waterway while efforts were underway to put out the fire. Hundreds of fish and wildlife were killed, and waterways were contaminated for months.
The Campbellfield fire also caused environmental damage to local waterways on Merlynston Creek, where low dissolved oxygen levels hurt local aquatic life. In the Northcote electorate Merri Creek, which forms the western border of our community, and Darebin Creek, on the eastern border, are particularly vulnerable to pollutants given their proximity to industrial areas and being at the receiving end of stormwater runoff.
I never ever want to see a situation in which these precious ecosystems are damaged as a consequence of illegal stockpiling and the mishandling of dangerous goods as a consequence of criminal and, ultimately, avoidable behaviour.
I never ever want to see a situation where families have to endure the heartache of one of their loved ones being injured or killed because these operators put profits before the safety of Victorians. That is why these amendments and the strong deterrence they create are so important.
Last financial year WorkSafe issued over 400 improvement notices for dangerous goods-related contraventions. This bill strengthens the penalties for non-compliance with these notices for failures to meet obligations to prevent fires and explosions and failures to follow directions regarding spills and damage to containers. These increased penalties will bring the Dangerous Goods Act in line with similar offences under the OH&S legislation, and they reflect the seriousness of operators’ actions when they choose to shirk their responsibilities and when they choose to treat cutting corners as business as usual.
Unlike those opposite, the Andrews Labor government will always stand up for workers, and it will not tolerate conduct that puts lives at risk.
As well as this bill, we are also committed to introducing laws to criminalise industrial manslaughter and wage theft. On that last point, I was proud to host a forum in Northcote recently with hospitality unions to discuss what more we can do to protect workers from exploitation and mistreatment.
Workers told me of very deliberate and flagrant disregard for our laws by some employers; that kind of disregard cannot be tolerated, and that is why we are taking action.
We are also cracking down on the illegal storage of hazardous material by putting in place a new electronic tracking system for chemical waste. From July this year we are switching to a full GPS electronic tracking system through an investment of $5.5 million to better record the production, movement and receipt of industrial waste. This best practice tracking system will allow for improved data reporting and the identification of potential illegal activity.
Together these changes are improving the way we track and respond to the mishandling and stockpiling of dangerous and hazardous materials, reducing the risk to workers, communities and the environment. No worker should ever be injured, no community should be traumatised as the residents of Campbellfield and Footscray were, and no waterways should face ecological damage as Stony Creek did. Through this bill we will send reckless operators a clear message: clean up your act. I commend this bill to the house.
