Today’s 81st meeting of the Workplace Relations Ministers’ Council (WRMC) held
by teleconference marks an historic moment in the history of occupational health and
safety (OHS) legislation in Australia.
Eighteen months after WRMC commenced this process, the Council has today agreed
to a framework for uniform OHS laws which will address the disparate and
inconsistent OHS laws across jurisdictions.
Overall, the provisions that will be included in the model OHS Act will lead to
enhanced safety protections for Australian employees and greater certainty for
employers.
WRMC considered and responded to the recommendations of the National Review
into Model OHS Laws (the Review) and in so doing, decided on the optimal structure
and content of a model OHS Act to be adopted by the Commonwealth, state and
territory governments.
The model OHS Act will include enhanced duty of care provisions so that all persons
who conduct a business or undertaking will owe a duty of care to all workers and
other persons. This will ensure that OHS legislation applies to all hazards and risks
arising from the conduct of work.
The model OHS Act will maintain that breaches of duties of care are criminal
offences to reflect the seriousness of non-compliance with a duty of care and will
provide for significant penalties in OHS legislation.
The model OHS Act will recognise the importance of consultation in securing safe
workplaces and provide for consultation obligations on the person conducting the
business or undertaking.
The model OHS Act will provide protections from discrimination, victimisation and
coercion over OHS matters which will go beyond what is currently available through
anti-discrimination and other laws.
Decisions were made in accordance with the historic Inter-Governmental Agreement
for OHS Reform. The Inter-Governmental Agreement expresses the commitment of
all governments to work together to harmonise OHS legislation, including through
agreed procedural and voting arrangements for WRMC. These provide that decisions
on the Review recommendations can be carried by a two thirds majority of members.
All jurisdictions participated in the voting process where this was necessary.
WRMC agreed that the focus of OHS harmonisation is on achieving the best possible
approach to health and safety for all Australian workers. WRMC agreed to a
balanced and inter-related package of measures that will lead to enhanced safety
protections for all Australian workers and greater certainty and protections for all
workplace parties. WRMC acknowledged that each jurisdiction will face changes in
current OHS arrangements in order to achieve the goal of uniform OHS laws.
WRMC has provided detailed instructions to the Safe Work Australia Council to
enable commencement of drafting of the model OHS laws in accordance with the
decisions made today.
Download the above PDF to view the entire communiqué