Ms THEOPHANOUS (Northcote): There is no greater responsibility we have as legislators in this house than to protect the lives of those we represent. It is with a deep sense of that responsibility that I rise to speak in support of the Workplace Safety Legislation Amendment (Workplace Manslaughter and Other Matters) Bill 2019, which is fundamentally about protecting and valuing the lives of workers.
There have been many speakers on this bill, and with each recounted experience of loss it becomes ever clearer that this is a bill which had it been put through a generation ago would have made a huge difference to the countless families who lost loved ones because others failed in their responsibilities and their duties of care. I acknowledge the huge body of work done by the Attorney-General and Minister for Workplace Safety as well as by the Parliamentary Secretary for Workplace Safety and the families impacted by workplace death in bringing this bill to the house.
Everyone has the right to be safe at work, every family has the right to say their farewells in the morning without fearing it might be for the last time and everyone has the right to feel safe moving around their community.
This bill and the incredible loss it seeks to prevent is important to me personally, and sadly it will be for far too many families across our state.
Back in 1982, before the Cain government was elected, my uncle George Fasolis said his farewells to his family in Broadmeadows before heading out on the Kingfish B oil rig in Bass Strait in one of his two-week-on, one-week-off stints. He was a highly qualified welder. Some time during those two weeks George had a heart attack and died alone on the rig. Several months previously my Uncle George had experienced a mild stroke but was given the okay to return to work, provided he was supervised at all times and that the work was not overly strenuous. That did not happen. Uncle George left behind two small boys, my cousins Alex and Charlie, and my Auntie Koula. Later someone from the company Esso called my auntie to tell her that he had died. There was no explanation of how, other than that he had had a heart attack and that when he was found he could not be revived. There was no inquiry. There was no investigation. No-one asked questions like, 'Why was there no-one with him? What work was he carrying out at the time? Who was his supervisor? How long did it take to get an ambulance to him? Was there anything in his work practices that contributed to his death?’. No. Just, 'Your husband has died of a heart attack. You can see his body at the Sale hospital’. There was not even an offer to bring my auntie to Sale to be by her husband’s side. My father drove his sister for 3 hours to Sale hospital. No-one from the company came to greet her. The hospital staff told her where he was behind a curtain, and she went in to cry over his body. A cup of tea was offered by a nurse but nothing else. After weeping for hours, they drove back to Melbourne.
My father went to two schools that day. First he drove to Glenroy High School to take Alex out of his year 7 class and tell him what had happened to his dad. Then he went to Jacana Primary to take Charlie out of his class and up to the principal’s office, where he learned that he would never see his dad again. There were no social workers. There was no support from Esso or Eglo Engineering. There was no explanation, no investigation, no justice. That is no way to treat workers and families.
Things have improved from those days, and there are perhaps more checks and balances and more accountability, and yet workers are still killed doing their jobs, and in some cases they are killed because of negligence. Up to 30 people are killed in workplaces across Victoria every year—lives taken too often. For the families left behind, not much has changed since 1982, because the irrevocable feeling of loss when someone is taken from us does not change.
In 1994, 12 years later, as the shadow minister for energy, my father was flown to inspect Kingfish B oil rig. The company did not understand why he brought a wreath with him on the helicopter. Dad walked to the farthest point of the rig and dropped the wreath into the ocean, fulfilling my auntie’s wishes. He observed 2 minutes of silence.
It is for my Uncle George, for my cousins Alex and Charlie, for my Auntie Koula and for all the families impacted by workplace death that I so strongly support this legislation.
This bill does not create any new obligations on employers. Organisations and businesses already owe a duty of care to their employees and members of the public under part 3 of the Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004. This is not expected to impose an economic burden on businesses that are doing the right thing. So those employers who do the right thing will not be disadvantaged, nor should they be dissuaded from doing business. And regardless, the loss of life is not and can never be just a cost of doing business.
This bill sends a strong message to employers who are putting the lives of workers at risk, and it delivers on our election commitment to the Victorian people to create a criminal offence of workplace manslaughter.
Right now, holding the people who choose to do the wrong thing to account is extremely difficult—and doing the wrong thing is a choice. Existing penalties do not reflect the consequences and do not act as a deterrent. Right now, prosecution usually means a fine of often less than $300 000—$300 000 is an insult. With the passing of this bill, that is about to change. Under the new offence employers can be liable for a penalty of up to $16.5 million, and individuals can face up to 20 years in prison. These consequences are serious—we know that—and they should be. The individuals covered by this new offence are senior officers with the power and resources to improve workplace safety. These are the people who make the choices. It will not cover more junior employees or volunteers, for good reason. The offence applies to death as a result of both physical and mental injuries as well as death occurring as a result of workplace illnesses such as silicosis, reflecting the diversity of risks workers are exposed to across our many industries.
The reforms are in line with the recommendations of the 2018 Boland report commissioned by Safe Work Australia as well as legislative regimes in other states and territories. Workplace manslaughter laws have been in place in the ACT since 2003 and in Queensland since 2017, with the Northern Territory and Western Australia having introduced similar legislation to Parliament this year, and I am not aware of the sky having fallen in in those jurisdictions. And that is strange, because according to those opposite that is what will happen if these laws are passed: the sky will fall in, businesses will grind to a halt and company directors will be unfairly brought to account for the decisions they have made. That is what we are led to believe from what the member for Warrandyte and the member for Kew tell us. So I would issue a warning to those leadership aspirants: have a look through your history books or maybe google the words 'common‑law rights’ or 'Kennett’s common‑law black hole’. The people who tell us that the sky will fall in are from the same party that thought it wise to abolish common‑law rights. They thought removing an employee’s right to sue their employer for negligence was good for Victorians, good for workplace safety, good for businesses and good for families. So I say to those opposite: that policy helped bring down one Liberal leader—do not make the same mistake. And while you are at it, go and speak to the victims of the black hole. On this side of the house we actually care about keeping workers safe, and through this bill we will improve safety outcomes for workers, contractors, apprentices and trainees as well as the broader community. We will hold decision-makers to account, we will create a strong deterrent to employers failing to meet their existing obligations, and we will ensure that victims and families of workplace incidents get the justice and the support they need.
For my family and for yours, I commend this bill to the house.
