Labor is calling on the Perrottet Government to commission an independent inquiry into SafeWork NSW following concerns about the agency’s failure to adequately follow up incidents of workplace fatalities and serious injuries.
The NSW Auditor General will conduct a performance audit of SafeWork NSW in relation to these concerns.
NSW Shadow Minister for Industrial Relations, Work Health and Safety, Sophie Cotsis, wrote to NSW Auditor General Margaret Crawford this year.
It was brought to her attention that serious work, health and safety breaches weren’t followed up by Safework NSW with onsite inspections.
Despite the Auditor General agreeing to Ms Cotsis’s urgent request to undertake a performance audit into the effectiveness of SafeWork NSW as a regulator, she said a transparent and wide-ranging inquiry was urgently needed into the agency.
Retired NSW Supreme Court judge Robert McDougall recommended a public inquiry be held into the agency in April last year, as part of an independent inquiry into iCare.
NSW Shadow Minister for Industrial Relations, Work Health and Safety, Sophie Cotsis said:
“It is absolutely disgraceful that this Government has refused to conduct an inquiry into SafeWork NSW despite the mounting evidence that the agency is in turmoil.
“It is deeply concerning that we have now had the three Ministers responsible for SafeWork NSW brush aside a key recommendation from last year’s McDougall inquiry to undertake a similar review into SafeWork NSW.
“The Minister responsible for Safework NSW should conduct a public review of that agency’s performance of its regulator and educational functions. “The longer the Perrottet Government delays a proper inquiry into SafeWork NSW the longer the safety of workers in NSW is under unacceptable risk.”
SOPHIE COTSIS MP
NSW SHADOW MINISTER FOR INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS
NSW SHADOW MINISTER FOR WORK HEALTH AND SAFETY
