Ms O’CONNOR (Hobart) – Mr President, I acknowledge the presence in the Chamber of Guy and Karen Hudson and Wendy Masters and acknowledge your profound, unending grief and your sense of justice not yet being served. I will not be supporting the referral of this bill to a committee or the suspension –
Mr PRESIDENT – This is to enable –
Ms O’CONNOR – Yes, I understand that, but the broader question here would be that this legislation, which has been argued by the Tasmania Law Reform Institute since 2007, is long overdue. We are the only jurisdiction in the country that does not have an industrial manslaughter framework in place. We have got comprehensive and persuasive arguments from Community Legal Centres Tasmania about why the bill in its current form and the current test for negligence should be supported. The risk here is that we delay this excellent legislation, which could save lives, and it goes off to a committee, then someone does not come home from work because of the negligence or the recklessness of their employer.
It is so important that nearly 20 years after the Tasmania Law Reform Institute brought down its report recommending an industrial manslaughter offence be inserted into our workplace health and safety laws, while every other jurisdiction in the country has moved or is moving fast down this path, including the Commonwealth. Why should we put up with being the last again and potentially, based on the government’s amendments being supported, ending up with the poorest industrial manslaughter legislation in the country? With respect, I ask members to have a look at who is lining up against this bill.
It is moneyed interests. Who is lining up in support of this bill? Parents, grieving families, unions, Community Legal Centres. We need to get on with the debate and pass this bill today.
