NSW: PM to have blood on his hands if mining laws changed: union

AAP General News (Australia)
12-29-2006
NSW: PM to have blood on his hands if mining laws changed: union

By Adam Bennett

SYDNEY, Dec 29 AAP - The union representing the country's mining workers says Prime
Minister John Howard will have "blood on his hands" if he succeeds in his attempts to
modify mine safety laws.

Mr Howard yesterday called for an overhaul of mining industry regulations, including
spreading the liability for mine accidents, speeding up the approval of new projects through
a "one-stop shop" and quicker resolution of Aboriginal heritage issues.

Mr Howard said he had written to state and territory leaders asking them to consider
three "sensible" changes to Australia's mining and energy export industry.

In particular, Mr Howard wants the states to change occupational health and safety
requirements so responsibility for mine accidents are not focused solely on mine managers,
as he says is presently the case in some jurisdictions.

Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) president Tony Maher says Mr
Howard's claim that mine managers are solely responsible for accidents is false, and that
any changes would lower safety standards.

"What Howard says in his letter is wholly false," Mr Maher said today.

"The legal liability does not solely rest on mine managers.

"The legal liability is placed on all employees, and employers in the industry.

"That's proven by the fact that companies are prosecuted, managers are prosecuted,
those lower in management ranks have been prosecuted, and ordinary rank and file mine
workers have been prosecuted.

"It's all well and good to put your arms around the Beaconsfield survivors, and shed
crocodile tears about mine safety.

"But the laws that we have around the country have been built on the backs of the deaths
of over 4,000 Australians.

"There'll be lower standards if they are changed. Basically he'll have blood on his
hands. More people will die. More people will be injured."

While Mr Howard has called on the states to change their respective safety laws, Mr
Maher said the Howard government could use federal powers to overturn state laws, as happened
earlier this year with industrial relations legislation.

"Legally they've probably got the power to override the states, that's what the High
Court said in respect of the industrial laws," he said.

"Safety laws are the next cab off the rank if the Howard government is re-elected."

NSW Mineral Resources Minister Ian Macdonald said the issue of criminal liability for
mine managers was currently being examined by former Supreme Court judge Paul Stein, under
a review of workplace safety laws.

Mr Stein is due to make his recommendations in April, and the government would not
"rush to pre-empt his findings", Mr Macdonald said.

However, there was "no crisis requiring a risky fix in NSW at this time", he added.

"The NSW government has been implementing a comprehensive change program since 1998
to improve the safety of the state's mining workforce," Mr Macdonald said.

"We will continue to work to ensure the highest standards of safety for all employees
in our mining industry."

AAP ab/was/jm/de

KEYWORD: MINING UNION

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