The Victorian Government has confirmed that it is unlikely to adopt the harmonised WHS laws in their current form, and has vowed to restore "the cooperative environment previously created between WorkSafe, employers and unions".
Early last year, then Shadow IR and WorkCover Ministers Natalie Hutchins and Robin Scott revealed that Labor was unlikely to enact a mirror WHS Act if it won the November 2014 Victorian election (which it did) because it didn't trust the Federal Coalition Government to maintain the high safety standards of the model Act (see related article).
On Friday, Scott, now Finance Minister overseeing WorkSafe Victoria, told OHS Alert that while the Labor Government would "continue to consider proposals at the national level... we will not harmonise our laws at the cost of workers' safety".
He also said Victoria's OHS Act informed and was "largely consistent" with the current version of the national model, suggesting that Victoria would achieve little from transitioning to the new statute.
Scott added that from now on WorkSafe would publish details of all OHS prosecutions on its website.
Under the previous State Government, WorkSafe was rebadged the Victorian WorkCover Authority and developed a reputation for secrecy. It released little information on its successful prosecutions and other safety issues, and former CEO Denise Cosgrove, who resigned at Scott's request early this month (see related article), was accused of protecting employer interests.
Scott also presented WorkSafe's half-yearly results at the State Library on Friday, and told stakeholders that Labor restored the WorkSafe brand (see related article) because it was widely recognised and "sends a powerful message about the need to make workplace safety a top priority".
"I am keen to see the resumption of the cooperative environment previously created between WorkSafe, employers and unions," he said.
He said that while Victoria's work-related injury rate had reached a record low of 7.32 claims per million hours worked at 31 December 2014, about 23,000 Victorians took time off work because of a work-related injury or illness every year, and 23 workers were killed in 2014.
"So workers are safer, but they are not safe," Scott said.
"And when it comes to support for those injured workers who have been unable to return to work, we must do more.
"That's why the Government has asked for a review of WorkSafe and the Transport Accident Commission... [which] will report back to the Government in the coming months." (See related article.)
Net result and funding ratio
Also speaking at the State Library, WorkSafe acting chief executive Clare Amies said that in addition to the falling injury rate, the regulator recorded a performance from insurance operations result of $94 million, and a net result after tax of $104 million, in the six months to December last year.
Its funding ratio was 116 per cent, and its average premium rate remained one of the lowest in the country at 1.272 per cent of payroll.
"The financial results have been influenced by strong markets, prevailing economic conditions and a higher-than-forecast increase in liabilities," Amies said.
She said WorkSafe was in "a very good position" to meet its objectives of providing "quality workplace injury insurance protection" for employers and workers, and maintaining competitive premiums.
