P10 PUBLIC SECTOR REVIEW JANUARY 2012
PSA MEMBER IN AUSTRALIA DAY HONOURS LIST Ms Elizabeth Ho, a member of the PSA for almost 40 years, was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia in the 2012 Australia Day's Honours. The Award was in recognition of Ms Ho's service to education through the Bob Hawke Prime Ministerial Centre at the University of South Australia and to women. The Bob Hawke Prime Ministerial Centre honours the contribution of South Australia's only Prime Minister, The Hon Bob Hawke AC
and provides the community with free access to expert knowledge and information on topics ranging from the environment to human rights. International patron, Nelson Mandela has personally endorsed the Centre’s values “strengthening our democracy, celebrating our diversity and building our future.” Ms Ho has been Director of the Centre since 1999. Elizabeth has played influential roles in a wide variety of community, cultural and
academic bodies including the Institute of Public Administration Australia, the State Heritage Authority and the Migrant Resource Centre of South Australia. She previously worked in the State Library of South Australia and the Education Department. In 2009 she was added to the SA Women's Honour Roll for services to public learning and on 18 January of this year, Ms Ho was announced by the Prime Minister as a "People of Australia Ambassador', one of only 5 from South Australia.
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Harmonising Workplace Health and Safety Laws? by Doctor Kevin Purse
In August 2008 the federal, state, and territory governments signed up to an agreement to 'harmonise' Australia's workplace health and safety laws. In May 2009 they agreed model WHS legislation should be drafted, enacted and in place in all Australian jurisdictions by no later than January 2012. The model WHS legislation largely reflects existing arrangements associated with the Robens' style legislation which has operated in Australia over the last three decades. In broad terms, this type of legislation imposes a duty of care obligation on employers to take all reasonably practical steps to provide a safe and healthy working environment along with safe systems of work for their workers. Other duty holders include contractors and workers. It also makes provision for worker involvement in WHS decision making through elected Health and Safety Representatives (HSRs) and Health and Safety Committees as well as workplace inspections and enforcement by WHS regulators, such as SafeWork SA. There are, however, some new features contained in the model legislation. One significant change involves the introduction of a new, broader, category of duty holder - a person conducting a business or undertaking, or PCBU. Historically, in WHS law the primary duty of care obligation has been based on the employment relationship. However, the changing nature of work in recent decades has meant that an increasing proportion of people, in effect, often carry out their work under the direction of parties other than their employer. Labour hire arrangements and megaconstruction projects in the mining industry are among the more obvious examples of this trend. Although rather clunky, the PCBU category seeks to enshrine the primary duty of care obligation on those that create the risks and direct the work, irrespective of the employment relationship. For most workers, there will be no change under the model legislation their employers will simply become PCBUs. But for others, engaged under non-standard working arrangements, there should be greater legal protection, provided the legislation is effectively enforced.
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Another new feature is a right of entry (ROE) provision to enable union representatives to access workplaces to assist workers and HSRs in dealing with WHS issues. As with wages and other working conditions there is a positive 'union effect' in relation to workplace health and safety. Unions have traditionally played a pivotal role in improving Australia's WHS laws. New or more effective regulations have also resulted from union activity. This includes the introduction of manual handling regulations, tighter exposure standards for workplace chemicals and the 2003 decision to ban asbestos. There is also evidence that unionised workplaces are safer than their nonunion counterparts. One other particularly important change involves proposed step-ups in penalties for WHS violations to increase the level of deterrence. In South Australia the maximum penalty is currently $300,000, for a first offence. Under the changes proposed there are three categories of offence, with the most serious attracting a maximum fine of $3 million for corporate offenders. The State of Play The federal, New South Wales, Queensland, ACT and Northern Territory governments have all passed model WHS legislation. Although not identical the new laws are, for the most part, consistent with the harmonisation objective. In Tasmania the legislation is due to be debated further once parliament resumes, while in Victoria and Western Australia the Liberal/National governments have indicated that legislation is unlikely to be introduced any time soon. The situation in South Australia is also under a cloud. Although introduced in the Legislative Council during November 2011, debate on the Work Health and Safety Bill was stalled in December as a result of the Opposition not supporting crucial aspects of the Bill. Key areas of contention include the Bill's PCBU provisions and the ROE proposals. Concerns over the PCBU provisions are misplaced in that the current legislation has similar provisions but in a different form. The proposed changes simply seek to consolidate these otherwise disparate obligations under the
one heading. More controversial are the ROE provisions, which have been depicted as a naked 'power' grab that would inevitably result in widespread union 'abuses'. The facts, however, suggest otherwise. Fair Work Australia figures indicate there were over 2,500 applications across Australia by unions for ROE permits in the first two years of the Fair Work Act's operation. Only 1 permit was revoked during this entire period. This suggests that opposition to the
ROE provisions may have more to do with political posturing and anti-union ideology than the evidence . The Bill is expected back in parliament in mid February. Its fate will be determined by the votes of the minor parties and the independents. This means trade unions and the broader progressive community will need to press home the case for workers' rights with even greater vigour.
Feeding the Machine Extensive changes to the Machinery of Government (MOG) – who does what for whom, how – are presenting some challenges for members. With so many changes in such a short period of time, reporting boundaries, roles and responsibilities inevitably become blurred. The PSA is working to ensure no members fall through the gaps in the process. Many of the changes in departmental structure and Ministerial overview appear to be sensible and practical, at least in theory. How they apply in the real world will be the test. Among the alphabet soup of changes being overseen by the PSA, in conjunction with Worksite Representatives are: Department for Transport Energy & Infrastructure (DTEI) is now called Department of Planning, Transport and Infrastructure (DPTI). Service SA, responsible for licensing and registration, was transferred to the Department of Premier & Cabinet. The biggest changes occurred to the Department for Families & Communities (DFC), now called Department for Communities & Social Inclusion (DCSI).
The Office for Youth, Office for Women, Office for Volunteers, Office of the North, Office of the South and Multicultural SA were all transferred to DCSI. Ageing Policy workers and the Adelaide Aged Care Assessment team were transferred to Department for Health. Families SA, with the exception of Youth Justice, was transferred to the new Department for Education & Child Development (DECD) to meet the new strategic focus on child protection and early intervention. Members who provide child specific services from the Children, Youth & Women’s Health Service also report to the new Minister responsible for Child Development. Throughout this process PSA officials have been and will continue to meet with DCSI, DPTI, Health and DECD representatives to ensure that members will not be disadvantaged or lose entitlements when transitioning to their new department. Meetings are also being held with the Commissioner for Public Sector Employment, who has oversight of the changes. Members with any concerns are encouraged to contact their worksite rep.
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