Parmar Parmjeet: Underground Coal Mining Safety Bill — First ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeParmar Parmjeet: Underground Coal Mining Safety Bill — First Reading[Sitting date: 24 June 2015. Volume:706;Page:4730. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Dr PARMJEET PARMAR (National): Thank you for the opportunity to speak on the Underground Coal Mining Safety Bill which is in the name of Damien O’Connor. The purpose of this bill is to on an interim basis bring in better protection and safety for underground coalminers here in New Zealand by adopting Queensland’s regulatory framework until we have a better process in place. I can see that this bill is inspired by the Pike River mine tragedy so before I get into this bill I would like to say that my heart and thoughts go out to the Pike River miners and their families. The whole country—yes the whole country—was mourning after those explosions. Everyone expects to return home safely after their day at work. Health and safety is critical. Health and safety at work is important. Employees and employers both know that health and safety is important. Employers know that if they have a safe workplace their employees are happy they feel safe and they are more productive. There are fewer interruptions which leads to less cost to business because all such interruptions always lead to some kind of cost. Cost aside in serious cases it can lead to injury or even the death of workers. No one can deny that workplace health and safety is important but things get overlooked and accidents do happen.According to the type of industry there may be sometimes some specific requirements measures and practices that are required to be in place and these measures and practices should be able to address physical psychological environmental and other health and safety issues. Coalmining is a worldwide industry and the way of mining depends on the geology of the coal deposit. Open-cast mining—yes it is economical but the coal seam should be close to the surface. Underground coalmining is comparatively a very complex process. It is not as simple as just adopting another country or region’s regulatory framework because it requires a good understanding of local coal deposits and technical and operational requirements. It requires good strategic planning. It requires good risk management. Also we need people who bring the right kind of expertise because it is a very complex and hazardous industry.I can see the reason for this bill but this National Government has already done a lot in that direction. This National Government has already fulfilled that commitment that it made after that Pike River tragedy. This was in November 2010 when this National Government initiated a royal commission of inquiry and then it was November 2012 when the royal commission made its report public. Then in December 2012 this National Government released its plan to implement the key recommendations that were made by the royal commission. For that the Independent Taskforce on Workplace Health and Safety was given the task of advising the Government on workplace health and safety and also on the structure and form of a new independent regulator for workplace health and safety. So this National Government has already developed an effective framework for mining—all kinds of mining not just underground coalmining.I would like to actually list a few things that are already done. Legislation arising from the Health and Safety (Pike River Implementation) Bill established a new workplace health and safety agency—that is WorkSafe New Zealand—and implemented key recommendations of the royal commission. Three Acts were created by the Health and Safety (Pike River Implementation) Bill: The WorkSafe New Zealand Act 2013 the Health and Safety in Employment Amendment Act 2013 and the Mines Rescue Act. So we can see that this National Government has already fulfilled its commitment to the royal commission’s recommendations. I can see the reason behind this bill but this bill is unnecessary because this National Government is already investing significantly in health and safety. We know that working safer reforms in the Health and Safety Reform Bill before the House are to reduce injuries and the death toll by 25 percent by 2020. WorkSafe New Zealand is assessing 12500 businesses every year. We do not support this bill because this bill is completely unnecessary. This National Government has already done a lot in that direction. Thank you.