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Issue No. 137 | 24 May 2002 |
An Aussie Icon
Interview: Just Done It? Tribute: Lest We Forget History: Solidarity Forever Technology: Unblocking the Superhighway International: Gloves Off Unions: Out Of Work Review: Strange Business Poetry: The Lawyer's Lament Satire: Government Mourns Loss Of Last Anzac
Retailers in Outworker Spotlight Syd in Vicious Backpacker Stand-off Microsoft Monopoly Under Challenge Kiddies Not Exactly Having a Ball NSW ALP Faces Asylum Seeker Test Canberra Acts on Industrial Manslaughter Santa Claus Strikers on Christmas Island Abbott Believes Management Should Dictate Low Paid Not To Blame For Beer Price Rise Casino Award Covers Eastern States Security Workers Want Bosses Sacked Sydneysiders Rally For Western Sahara
The Soapbox The Locker Room Bosswatch Postcard Week in Review
Your Tools Page is Down Big Dave Foster Give Us a Click! Will the Real Mark Latham Please Stand Up? Unified Labour The Last Survivor Not Hate Mail
Labor Council of NSW |
News Canberra Acts on Industrial Manslaughter
While similar provisions have been side-tracked in Victoria, NSW and Queensland, ACT Industrial Relations Minister Simon Corbell will introduce legislation based on a private member's notice from Labor MLA Katy Gallagher. Gallagher says she is "extremely hopeful" a Government Bill, amending the Crimes Act, will go before the territory's Parliament next month. It would apply sanctions, including prison terms and heavy fines, to employers found "grossly negligent" over workplace deaths. "This is not about people who observe the law. It's aimed at those who know their workplaces are unsafe and do nothing about it," she explained. Hidden Menace Gallagher said industrial deaths were a hidden menace and it was the proper role of Governments to take actions that could save the lives of their constituents. In calling on the Minister to introduce industrial manslaughter legislation she pointed out that more Australians died in industrial accidents than on the country's roads. "Yet, there is no industrial deaths toll on our nightly news bulletins, there is no hard-hitting advertising campaign to raise awareness of the issue and, sadly, it is relatively infrequently that anyone is held accountable for a workplace death," she said. Australia has industrial death rates higher than comparable countries - New Zealand, Canada, the UK, US or Japan. Gallagher called, in the absence of Federal Government action, for states to take a co-ordinated, national approach in a bid to cut the rate of workplace deaths. Beefed-up provisions were needed, she said, because corporations and directors could currently escape criminal liability because of the difficulty of applying manslaughter laws to corporate entities, or individuals protected by complicated corporate structures. Contributions to her notice from Liberal, Green and Democrat speakers left Gallagher confident Corbell's legislation would gather enough support in a legislature where Labor governs as a minority.
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