In support of Australia’s Safe Work Month, I have recorded a 12-minute opinion piece on how Australian politics since 2010 has affected the perception and development of occupational health and safety, based on past SafetyAtWorkBlog articles.
It is an interesting opportunity to reflect on the decisions and actions of influential individuals like Julia Gillard, Kristina Keneally, Jeff Lawrence, and David Gregory.
Occupational health and safety (OHS) can feel like a humdrum career when working in a low-risk, well-managed organisation. But the wheels of change roll on. Here’s a quick sample of some of that activity over the last week or so that you are unlikely to see elsewhere.
Prominent occupational health and safety (OHS) lawyers Dale McQualter and Catherine Dunlop have just concluded the first of two online seminars about Victoria’s new psychological/psychosocial regulations and compliance code. Many employers will have a lot of work to do to comply, but the overall sense was one of reassurance.
Australia’s efforts to enhance the health and safety of its workers are hindered by the constitutional framework, which assigns responsibility for occupational health and safety (OHS) to local jurisdictions.
Recent comments by a Federal Minister on sexual harassment illustrate this dilemma, which is not restricted to OHS.
On September 17, 2025, Jo Clay, deputy leader of the ACT Greens, asked the Minister for Skills, Training and Industrial Relations, Michael Pettersson, about workplace deaths in the Australian Capital Territory horse racing industry, pointedly:
“What regulatory action is the government taking to try to make this industry safer?”
Short 5- or 6-minute summaries of SafetyAtWorkBlog articles are available on Apple Podcasts and SoundCloud. The three latest episodes discuss working from home, psychosocial regulations and work-related suicide.
I have tried to stay brief, as we are all busy, and more information, quotes, links, and profiles can be found in the original blog articles.
Please let me know if you find these (clearly) home-produced summaries useful.
Victoria’s consultation on its work-from-home proposals closes this weekend. The government has claimed over 18,000 submissions and interactions, but none of them are yet publicly available. The Business Council of Australia (BCA) has garnered recent media attention, pre-empting the closure of the consultation. The BCA could have a more mature discussion on the concept and practice of working from home, but perhaps it realises that the argument has already been lost.
