Labor promises improved WHS laws

Following on from our earlier article on the Labor government’s IR agenda – the party have also, at their most recent National Platform, developed and adopted a series of WHS policies that could see the future of WHS laws changing as a result of the 2022 Federal Election.

Labor has promised to ‘advance a national work health and safety agenda’ through an improved, refinanced and ‘properly tripartite’ Safe Work Australia.

The key proposed reforms include:

1. reversing the onus of proof so that employers and officers accused of WHS breaches bear the burden of proving that they took all reasonably practicable steps to prevent and incident occurring;

2. including the offence of ‘industrial manslaughter’ to the national model WHS Act;

3. upping the ante on the WHS duty to consult with workers;

4. enabling any unions, workers (and their families) affected by a WHS incident to initiate WHS prosecutions;

5. fully implementing all recommendations from Marie Boland’s 2018/19 review of model WHS laws;

6. fully implementing the recommendations from the Jenkins Respect@Work report on the national inquiry into sexual harassment in Australian workplaces – primarily to introduce a positive duty for employers to take reasonable and proportionate measures to eliminate sex discrimination, sexual harassment and victimisation in the workplace;

7. introducing specific regulations targeting psychosocial hazards, deadly industrial and infectious diseases;

8. harmonising WHS regulatory frameworks for workers in hazardous industries;

9. reintroducing a national safe rates scheme for those in the transport industry supply chain; and

10. conducting a review of Comcare and the workers’ compensation system.

These reforms could spell massive change for the WHS landscape. Continue to stay tuned in for Edge updates as these matters progress.

Edge Legal

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