Political Report from the August 2020 Parliamentary Sitting.
Labor’s team in the Upper House accomplished a significant amount in Parliament during August.
The Parliament was initially scheduled to sit for only one week during early August, and was not set to return until the 15th of September. The Berejiklian Government refused to recall the Lower House in an attempt to hide from any criticism about their Treasurers’ catastrophic mismanagement of iCare, the State’s workers compensation agency. However, Labor’s Leader in the Upper House, Adam Searle wrote to the President of the Legislative Council to request the recall of Parliament for 25, 26 & 27 August. Therefore, Labor was able to work with the crossbench parties to ensure that the Upper House was recalled. This was an important decision because it allowed us to prosecute the Government at a time when they needed to be.
Medical Gas and Mechanical Services work will be now safe and licensed!
Alongside Theo Samartzopolous, Secretary of the Plumbing Trades Employees Union (PTEU), I have been working for over 12 months to ensure that Medical gas and Mechanical services work is a safe and licensed industry in our State.
Amelia Khan and John Ghanem were tragically given nitrous oxide instead of oxygen shortly after they were born at Bankstown-Lidcombe hospital in 2016. Notwithstanding the heartbreaking impact on the Khan and Ghanem families and despite pleas from industry experts, the Liberal and National Government failed to take action for over four years. Anyone, literally off the street, in NSW has been permitted to legally perform medical gas and mechanical services work, which can have life and death consequences. I raised this issue in the Parliament last year, and when the Sydney Morning Herald covered my speech, the Berejiklian Government’s only response was that the industry did not require licensing or regulation.
I have been extremely fortunate to have got to know the beautiful Khan family as a result of my speaking out about this important issue. I have spent time hearing how completely devastated Benish and Danial were when they found out that their newborn baby girl was given poisonous gas, which left her with irreversible brain damage. Amelia is now vision impaired, she will never be able to walk independently and is likely to have lifelong quadriplegic cerebral palsy and intellectual disabilities. She is also unlikely to be able to use her hands or develop speech. The Khan family expressed that they wanted to make sure that the lack of regulatory provisions is fixed so that a tragedy like this cannot happen again to another family.
I was thankful that I was able to seek approval from our Leader Jodi McKay and Labor’s Shadow cabinet to draft a Private Members Bill with the objective to license and ensure that Medical gas and Mechanical services work is only undertaken by highly skilled, qualified and experienced people in our hospitals and medical facilities. After engaging with stakeholders, including the NSW Plumbers Union, I was able to present my legislation to Parliament in June that was designed as a robust measure to prevent a repeat of the tragic events that took place at the Bankstown‑Lidcombe Hospital in 2016. The Bill passed the Upper House unopposed, this is the first time that a standalone Opposition Private Members Bill has passed the House in over 20 years. The Liberals and Nationals ultimately voted down the legislation in the Lower house because they could not bear to allow Labor credit for the Bill. However, due to a relentless media campaign that focused on the Bill, including a 60 minutes feature story, two lead stories on Channel Nine news, online news articles and many radio interviews, we finally saw the Government concede that they would look at addressing the lack of licensing in the industry by introducing its own legislation. It is an extremely rare event that a Government is forced into making legislation after a member of the Opposition brings forward their own Bill.
In early August the Government introduced their legislation into Parliament. The legislation was inconsistent with how the trade, the industry and its training function, and therefore it fell short on key safety measures. Industry experts made lengthy warnings to the Government about crucial safety issues and warned of the dangerous ramifications of such issues, however they were simply ignored by the Government.
Amongst the numerous problems, the Government’s unamended Bill would not require any qualifications at all, including Trade qualifications for the category of workers that undertake the crucial testing, certification and maintenance of the medical gas work. Mechanical services, the overall trade that Medical gas sits within would have been left unlicensed, which is an enormous safety concern as it diverges from education, training and industry practice in other States.
I therefore drafted a set of 29 robust Opposition amendments that were designed to completely reconfigure the Government’s Bill and ensure that the Government could not pass watered down legislation that would not keep the residents of NSW safe.
I ensured that the members of the crossbench were fully briefed on the gravity of the safety issues within the Government’s Bill, through the organisation of in-depth consultations with experts, including the NSW Plumbers Union. The result was that despite extreme Government pressure on the crossbenchers they all refused, including Fred Nile, to pass the Government’s Bill without Labor’s amendments.
All 29 of the amendments I drafted were successfully passed in both houses of Parliament. Labor’s amendments consequently made up the substance of the legislation, ensuring that Labor’s policy is in full effect under the Law and we will now have robust protections for the residents of our state. The education and trade requirements under Labor’s amendments makes it the most robust licensing legislation in Australia. Labor’s amendments will also help substantially grow the economy with the licensing of new industries, as employers will no longer be forced to seek qualified workers from Victoria and Queensland.
Labor’s amendments make a large number of consequential changes including:
Preventing the Government from allowing unqualified individuals from undertaking any work whatsoever in medical gas and mechanical services.
All individuals that undertake any medical gas or mechanical services work will need specific trade or engineering qualifications and extensive experience, including for the maintenance and the vital testing and certification component of medical gas work.
Trade qualifications and experience requirements are embedded within the legislation making it the most comprehensive and safe method of licensing.
Robust penalties regime for unlicensed work, including the requirement of vigorous supervision for apprentices. Supervisors need to personally ensure that the work is correctly completed.
Mechanical services will now also be licensed ensuring that NSW will finally have a safe industry for extremely high-risk work, bringing us in line with Queensland and Victoria.
All high-risk medical gas installations and work will need to be carried out in accordance with Australian Standards.
The law will extend to all medical facilities across our state and aged care homes.
Removal of specific Government regulatory powers, which would have given the Liberals and Nationals the power to water down the legislation.
Please see my speech, during the debate where I was able to get all 29 Amendments through the Parliament:
Cumberland Council
At the end of August in Parliament, I called on the Cumberland Council not to abandon its workforce by privatising its services. Outrageously, within Cumberland City Council's 2020 economic statement the general manager indicated that the council is looking to outsource education and care services, including child care and senior living units, and the operation of its swim centres.
Outsourcing to the private sector will jeopardise the jobs of hardworking council employees. It will also mean the local community will no longer have access to inexpensive, culturally sensitive and disability friendly childcare services. I will continue to fight this, along with the United Services Union (USU) and Labor’s Shadow Minister for Local Government Greg Warren. The Cumberland community and its workers deserve better!
Please read my speech here or take a look at the video below:
iCare
Labor moved a motion of no confidence in the Treasurer and the board of iCare, this was led by Daniel Mookhey, Labor’s Shadow Minister for Finance and Small Business.
The failures of the NSW workers compensation agency have been catastrophic. Labor moved this motion because under the leadership of the Treasurer, we have seen the following:
iCare handed $4 million in salary and bonuses to its eight top executives, despite the agency losing $873 million. 200 of its 1200 staff were also handed bonuses.
iCare underpaid 52,000 workers up to $80 million.
iCare overpaid dodgy doctors hundreds of millions of dollars in duplicate and fraudulent payments.
iCare paid for two secret political advisors in the Treasurer’s personal office.
iCare tried to eject 17,500 workers from the workers compensation system.
The vote on the motion of no confidence was deadlocked at 20 all. The Treasurer was only able to survive because the Liberal President used his casting vote. Labor’s team in the Legislative Council will continue to highlight the mismanagement of the workers compensation scheme by the Treasurer and the board of iCare until we get the reform injured workers deserve.
Please read my speech here or take a look at the video below:
Orders for Papers
One of the key tools of scrutiny by the Upper House is our ability to call for information pertaining to government agencies. Labor was able to win a number key votes, which will allow for Orders for papers to be made. This means that the Berejiklian Government is compelled to produce documents related to certain issues we specify, including information relating to the bushfires, community funds and grants, cuts to bus services in Sydney’s East, the Brandy Hill Quarry expansion and its impact on Koalas and enrolment capacity of public schools.
Labor won a key debate, led by Daniel Mookhey, which means that crucial documents regarding iCare will need to be produced by the Government. It is vital that we will now be able obtain further information surrounding bonuses and sponsored overseas travel, that were provided to iCare employees’ under the Treasurer’s watch whilst the scheme was being driven into the ground. The papers requested also concern the details regarding the two political staffers who were undertaking work for the Treasurer whilst on the payroll of iCare. This is a further way that we are able to hold the Treasurer to account for his mismanagement of iCare.
Please read my speech here.
Labor’s Toll-free Bill
Labor’s Roads Amendment (Toll-Free Period) Bill 2020 was introduced by Shadow Minister for Roads, John Graham. The Bill’s main intention is to compel the Minister to declare a toll-free period when a new toll road opens. Labor’s Bill passed in the Legislative Council 23 votes to 17.
NSW Labor thinks that toll-free periods are crucial for safety and fairness. Toll- free periods allow residents time to modify their routes prior to being struck with a new toll. It will also assist motorists who are struggling financially during a recession. Labor’s Bill will now proceed to the Legislative Assembly where it will be debated when Parliament returns on September 15th. Labor is calling on the Premier to back the changes to the law to curb ‘toll-mania’ in NSW.
The Upper House will next resume on Tuesday 2 June 2020. We will then be continuing to sit on June: 3, 4, 16, 17, 18, where we will be persisting to hold the Berejiklian Government to account.
We need your help!
NSW Labor is calling on the Berejiklian Government to immediately give effect to the NSW Modern Slavery Act, despite being passed by both houses of Parliament more than two years ago it has remained in limbo!
Modern slavery refers to human exploitation such as slavery, forced labour and human trafficking. The Act addresses modern slavery in the supply chain in NSW and establishes an Anti-Slavery Commissioner and new offences, together with penalties. It additionally necessitates that companies with an annual turnover of more than $50 million must report on the risk of slavery in their supply chains.
We know that all it takes from the Premier is the stroke of a pen to proclaim this Act, however we are still waiting more than two years on. It is unacceptable that the Bill has still has not commenced, consequently the Berejiklian Government is abandoning our most vulnerable workers without protection under the law.
Please use the link to support the e-petition to bring the issue to debate in the NSW Parliament.
NSW Labor and the National Tertiary Education Union are also launching another Petition that urges the Berejiklian Government to finally provide a survival package for the NSW tertiary education sector. Universities employ 100,000 people yet they are reeling from the loss of international students – and up to 1 in 5 jobs are at risk at campuses across our state.
These job cuts are in addition to the thousands of people on casual and fixed term contracts who have already lost work. Victoria has announced a $460 million rescue package for its universities – however the NSW Liberals and Nationals are sitting on their hands, simply ignoring this crisis. Labor wants to save jobs, livelihoods and support the local economy in our university towns and suburbs.
Please use the link to support the e-petition that calls on the Government to ensure that no job is lost from a public university in NSW.
The Upper House is a very effective tool for Labor to prosecute its case from opposition. I am in parliament to represent issues that matter to you - our party members and our unions so I encourage you to let me know of any issues you may want us to pursue. Please contact my office and we will always try and help.
Parliament is set to return on the 15th of September. Please follow me on Facebook and Instagram to keep up with what is going on.