The Victorian Branch of the Australian Labor Party has had its 2018 policy platform available online for sometime. Given that the State election is on November 24, 2018 it is timely to look at the ALP’s new, or restated, commitments. In its section on Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) the ALP claims that its support of …
On October 29 2018, RMIT University and the Safety Institute of Australia conducted a forum on Industrial Manslaughter laws. The mix of presenters offered a respectful discussion on the issue but also illustrated where such proposed legal changes fit. The event was organised and hosted by Gloria Kyriacou-Morosinotto whose introduction listed the questions we should …
Australia’s national government has announced an inquiry into mental health to be conducted by the Productivity Commission. The Victorian Government has promised a Royal Commission into Mental Health as part of its election pledge. New South Wales has a five-year Mentally Healthy Workplaces Strategy. All of these initiatives are being applauded by the mental health advocates but …
In November 2017, SafetyAtWorkBlog wrote about a pilot occupational health and safety (OHS) and wellness program created by the Victorian Arts Centre. At the time the future of this very good program was in doubt as continuing funding was not available. On August 30 2018, Victorian Premier, Daniel Andrews, pledged some funding to the Arts … Continue reading “Arts Wellbeing Collective gets a future”
Victoria’s Premier Daniel Andrews announced a State-supported program to install solar panels on an estimation of 65,00 homes if his Labor Party is re-elected this November. This election campaign announcement immediately reminds voters of the last government-sponsored “green” program, the Home Insulation Scheme which, amongst other results, lead to the deaths five workers. Unsurprisingly, the …
With little surprise, at the Australian Labor Party (ALP) Conference in Victoria on 26 May 2018, Premier Daniel Andrews has included the introduction of Industrial Manslaughter laws as a formal part of the campaign for re-election in November 2018. According to his media release, if re-elected, “.., employers will face fines of almost $16 million and …
The Victorian trade union movement is preparing for the November 2018 State Election with one element of that campaign being the advocacy of Industrial Manslaughter laws. At the end of January 2018, the unions “kicked off” their campaign with a meeting which reviewed the challenges and wins for injured workers in 2017 and outlined their … Continue reading “Victoria is ripe for Industrial Manslaughter laws”