Workplace Safety

The majority voted against a motion introduced by NSW Senator Deborah O'Neill (Labor), which means it failed.

Motion text

That the Senate—

(a) recognises that:

(i) since the publication of the Senate inquiry report They never came home–the framework surrounding the prevent ion, investigation and prosecution of industrial deaths in Australia in late 2018, 183 workers have lost their lives in the workplace,

(ii) 183 lives were lost in 2019 which represented the first increase in workplace deaths since John Howard was Prime Minister, and

(iii) as of 19 November 2020, 147 Australian workers have died on the job this year;

(b) congratulates the Victorian, Australian Capital Territory, Queensland and Northern Territory governments for passing comprehensive industrial manslaughter laws; and

(c) calls on the Federal Government to:

(i) act on the recommendations of the 'They never came home' report,

(ii) act on the recommendations of the Boland Review, and

(iii) implement a Federal industrial manslaughter regime.