Scott Alastair: Underground Coal Mining Safety Bill — First ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeScott Alastair: Underground Coal Mining Safety Bill — First Reading[Sitting date: 24 June 2015. Volume:706;Page:4724. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]ALASTAIR SCOTT (National—Wairarapa): Thank you for the opportunity. First of all I would like to commend Mr O’Connor for his initiative in bringing this bill to the House his motivation for bringing this bill to the House and last but not least his obvious action because actions are what matter.This bill was brought to the House as a result of the Pike River disaster but I would like to also acknowledge that it is part of a concerted effort that is going on in health and safety not just in this House but in industries across the country. The Government is aiming to reduce deaths by 25 percent by 2020. Some of those initiatives include the maritime operator safety system the “MOSS” regulations which have been in for about 12 months. The forestry sector is collaborating together to increase the health and safety of its workers. FarmSafe is working with Federated Farmers who are working with WorkSafe and are engaged in a whole lot of initiatives to make sure that their workers are safe. The previous speaker suggested that this party is not concerned about the safety of workers in this country. That is just totally rejected. That is why we have introduced the Health and Safety Reform Bill which has as has already been mentioned superseded this member’s bill.I agree with Mr Lees-Galloway. The statistics in this country are not good—75 deaths per year is not a good record. About 40 percent or let us just put it another way about 29 people die in the agriculture sector alone every year—the same number of people who died in the Pike River disaster. That is every year. That is just every year and that has got to be considered. There are going to be thousands of injuries let alone the deaths and thousands of families who are affected by slack poor health and safety regulations and practices that have been in this country for too long.As a result of the Pike River inquiry there are 16 recommendations. I can tell the House that they have all been considered and implemented including consideration of the Australian mining regulations which are the basis of this member’s bill. As I say because the Health and Safety Reform Bill has superseded the member’s bill I cannot support Mr O’Connor’s bill. But it is not just about the paperwork. It is not just about the bill; it is about attitude and culture which are the key drivers to having a safe environment. “She’ll be right” when it comes to health and safety is not right. A bit of No. 8 wire is not good enough when it comes to the health and safety of our colleagues and workmates. This cultural change that will take place will take time.I would like to acknowledge at this point the previous chief executive officer of Transpower from 2007 to 2014 Dr Patrick Strange who at the top of his agenda at every board meeting had as an agenda item not the financials and the number of kilometres of cable that had been strung up but the health and safety record of the Transpower board over the previous month. He has led the way since before I was on that board and he is an example of leadership in the field of health and safety.We need to continue to lead from the front. Just think about 20 years ago when we talked about drink-driving culture. The laws were put in place but we know my parents and my grandparents continued to drink and drive. How long did seatbelts take to get in place? That took years. I recall my parents not putting their seatbelt on despite the law and my old man was a cop. So it is about a change in culture and attitude that must take place; it is not just going to be about the legislation. But we will persist and we must persist in developing the health and safety legal framework and we must get it right. To Mr Lees-Galloway’s point—we must get it right and a couple of weeks will not hurt. It is important for the benefit of all New Zealanders.