‘AUSTRALIAN industry feels very let down by the NSW Government’ was the message Mark Goodsell, NSW Director Australian Industry Group delivered earlier this week.
In a statement released January 22, Goodsell said that by delaying implementation of its own proposals for sensible and fair Occupational Health and Safety Laws, the government “looks ready to walk away from an OH&S Bill which is the result of wide consultation and which is ready to be put to Parliament.”
He went on to say that the existing OH&S legislative framework in NSW is discredited and the unfairness of the current laws is a major impediment to business confidence in the state.
“There is a feeling of Russian Roulette about the whole prosecution process as it stands and a sense of guilty until proven innocent under the laws.
“NSW does not have better safety performance than other states which have more fairly framed laws.
“The reports that the State Government plans to sit back and wait for Federal intervention means that we will go for another year or more with business people being personally exposed to unfair standards of responsibility,” Goodsell explained.
“If the NSW government wants national consistency it should pass its own Bill which will bring NSW laws much closer to the other states in advance of any further action by the Federal Government,” he added.
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