The LNP Queensland government has rushed through changes to WHS laws, introducing multiple amendments last Thursday as part of the Brisbane Olympic and Paralympic Games Arrangements and Other Legislation Amendments Bill 2024, and voting to pass the bill shortly before midnight the same day. These changes became effective immediately and reverse or amend several critical safety provisions.
Jarrod Bleijie, IR Minister and Attorney-General, claimed that these hard-won WHS rights were the result of the CFMEU’s and ETU’s “weaponisation of workplace health and safety” and declared the bill “urgent”, requesting Parliament to consider it by the end of the sitting day, rather than referring it to a committee as is usual practice.
The power for HSRs to take videos, photos, measurements and tests of risks, hazards and suspected contraventions in their workplaces was due to be implemented on 1 January 2025 but have now been cancelled before they could even commence. Bleijie claims that the changes failed to make provision for privacy concerns or limit how the photos or video could be used, but instead of introducing amendments to define and remedy these concerns has simply repealed the legislated power in its entirety.
Thursday’s legislative changes also reverse notice of entry amendments passed earlier this year by the previous government. WHS entry permit holders must now give at least 24 hours’ notice of any proposed entry and the suspected contravention. Shadow IR Minister Grace Grace responded that the Crisafulli Government fails to comprehend the difference between a union representative providing 24 hours’ notice to enter a workplace to discuss IR matters and bargaining, and a health and safety representative accessing a workplace when worker health and safety is at risk.
The third significant WHS provision to be reversed by this legislative amendment concerns HSRs power to issue cease work notices to employers. Only a few months ago the previous state government gave power to HSRs to issue written cease work notices to employers, as opposed to only other workers, instructing them to direct workers to cease work. The removal of this power means that HSRs are only able to direct workers to cease work, and only in the most serious of circumstances and when consultation with the employer and attempts to resolve the matter have not removed the risk.
This legislative reversal comes the day after thousands of building union members rallied against the Queensland governments recent suspension of Best Practice Industry Conditions (BPIC) for new major state projects.
The speed and severity of these reforms, coming just weeks after the new Government took power, is a useful reminder of the type of attacks on workers’ rights and protections that are seen under conservative Governments.
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