Stewart Barbara: Health and Safety (Pike River Implementation) Bill — Second ReadingText is subject to correctionStewart Barbara: Health and Safety (Pike River Implementation) Bill — Second Reading[Sitting date: 22 October 2013. Volume:694;Page:14095. Text is subject to correction.]BARBARA STEWART (NZ First): I stand on behalf of New Zealand First to support the second reading of the Health and Safety (Pike River Implementation) Bill. We welcome the changes that this will make to our mining sector. We know that it is the start of change and we look forward to further change throughout. Health and safety in a workplace is absolutely paramount. Every worker has the right to return home at the end of their working day and to return home unharmed. We firmly believe that. In New Zealand First we agree like every other party in the House with much of the royal commission report on the Pike River tragedy and we are happy to now see that many of the recommendations have been heard and are to be implemented. We must commend the Transport and Industrial Relations Committee for the work it has done on this bill. We welcome the changes that have been suggested and we look forward to the Committee stage where the Minister of Labour has indicated that there will be furtherchanges. Labour has also indicated that it has got some changes to suggest. We will look forward to reading those and considering those.However as I said in my first reading speech on this bill we are very sad that it took such a devastating tragedy and 29 deaths to make the necessary changes to improve the health and safety regulations in the mining sector. We extend our thoughts and our sympathies again to the friends and families of those involved in the Pike River tragedy and we look forward to this legislation which will help to make improvements in order to minimise the occurrence of any such tragedy in the future. Of course we realise that a bill can never ever eliminate a tragedy of this nature from occurring again but the focus on health and safety will be increased and this will help with what is currently happening. The current position is totally unacceptable. We need to give workers a greater sense of safety in their own workplaces.TheWorkSafe New Zealand agency which is going to be established under this bill is a good step forward. We like how it has been absolutely listed in this particular bill how the board is to be made up—at least five members and no more than nine—and the list of the criteria that the members of the board must have has been clearly outlined in the legislation. We do need to ensure that these people on the board are not party political and that it does follow these guidelines so that whenever there is a change of Government there is not a total change of theWorkSafe board. So we were happy with that. We did have some concerns about the agency but we are pleased that the recommendations have been clearly set out. We particularly support the recommendation to change the wording aroundWorkSafe’s main objectives in clause 9(1): “WorkSafe New Zealand’s main objective is to promote and contribute to securing the health and safety of workers and workplaces.” We believe that this is a step forward from the wording originally in this Bill. This means that this agency will take a stronger role in protecting the safety of workers and that is absolutely essential. A sole Government agency of this nature ought to have centralised responsibility for ensuring responsible health and safety practices are undertaken and these amendments actually underline that necessity.The bill also provides amendments to the Health and Safety in Employment Act of 1992. The change will see clear new mining regulations such as processes for better managing hazards increasing the minimum standards requirements for health and safety standards and strengthened training and competency requirements. I am very passionate about that latter requirement. The Royal Commission on the Pike River Coal Mine Tragedy focus on this was principally on underground mines. However the changes in this bill will make it focus more on all of the mine operations due to the particular hazards that they present. The royal commission saw a number of contributing factors to the Pike River mine disaster and we have heard how there was a coming together of many different factors that resulted in this disaster.The amendments of the committee have reduced the coverage of Part 2 of the bill in line with the suggestion from the royal commission that this should be expanded rather than narrowed. We are also aware that unions have voiced their concerns around this issue. In New Zealand First we have always supported an increase in health and safety regulations for our workers including broad coverage. Having read through the royal commission report New Zealand First is inclined to agree that there were quite a number of safety issues that went unaddressed. Failures across a number of Government departments and sections of Pike River management contributed to this tragedy. To this end New Zealand First believes that it would be counter-productive to identify any factor that resulted in the Pike River tragedy. We have welcomed the royal commission’s findings and now this bill and the Transport and Industrial Relations Committee amendments which on the whole greatly improve the bill.Again New Zealand First extends our utmost sympathies to the family and friends of the deceased. We will be supporting this bill to make a much-needed improvement to the mining sector and we believe that it is a great step forward towards protecting the health and safety of our workers here in New Zealand.