Bridges Simon: Health and Safety (Pike River Implementation) Bill — In CommitteeText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeBridges Simon: Health and Safety (Pike River Implementation) Bill — In Committee[Sitting date: 05 November 2013. Volume:694;Page:14389. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Hon SIMON BRIDGES (Minister of Labour): It is a great pleasure and a privilege to take a call on the Health and Safety (Pike River Implementation) Bill as the relevant Minister. I say that being very mindful that as I apprehend it there is multipartisan support for this bill. That is a very good thing indeed. I think we are as a Committee doing absolutely the right things here: firstly in implementing the Royal Commission on the Pike River Coal Mine Tragedy’s recommendations across the board really but also doing something if I can say so that is wider than that which is having regard to and implementing the Independent Taskforce on Workplace Health and Safety’s recommendations particularly in Part 1 to establish WorkSafe New Zealand.I will just talk very briefly about WorkSafe New Zealand. I think we can say that this really is something exceptionally significant. It is part of along with this bill and the future work in a health and safety reform bill that I hope to also introduce before the end of the year the biggest reforms in health and safety in 20 years—perhaps actually longer than that. Just to reassure the member Damien O’Connor I think we can say that WorkSafe New Zealand will be a very well-resourced independent Crown agency. Funding is going from some $50 million - odd to about $80 million per annum. It may not sound like much but it is a 5c to 8c increase in the health and safety in employment levy on workers and that will mean I am confident that the agency has the funding to do the job of health and safety in this country properly. There will be a review of it and my memory is that that will be in 2016-17. Again that is to make sure that we fund this important work properly.We have heard from the member Brendan Horan that some 300 people are transferring over to this new Crown agency which will be independently looking after health and safety. Actually I think that by the time the funding is in place and we have finished it will be a reasonably significantly greater number than that. So as I say this is significant work we are doing. This will be a body that will have I think all the tools in the tool kit—education at one end and working with business through to yes some tougher penalties and I suppose tools in the tool kit on that end of the spectrum. So that is a good thing. Of course there are other parts of this bill that we will come to in other speeches in this Committee stage but I just thought it was important to talk about WorkSafe New Zealand.Actually it is quite a big departure from what we have done in the past. It is going against the trend actually of not necessarily setting up new Crown agencies as we have seen over the last few years. I think it is the first one like this in some time and that is I think a good thing because it does need to be independent it does need to be strong and it does need to have a sole focus on health and safety. Our record across Governments and as a society of 75 people dying per annum which is about what it is at the moment is simply not good enough. In fact if we benchmark it against other countries it is pretty poor. I for one am confident actually that although it is ambitious WorkSafe’s target from me from the Government and I think from this House to have at least a 25 percent reduction by 2020 can be achieved. Resourcing it giving it the tools is very important.I will just touch briefly on some of the members’ contributions. I think we have had some thoughtful speeches very constructive speeches. The member Damien O’Connor has talked about the Machinery Act. I will advise the member that that will be repealed through the new health and safety reform bill so I think that we are making sure we are modernising. Of course WorkSafe will also have powers to advise me and I suppose push me and future Ministers of Labour to change regulations to look at laws and to make sure we are continually updating them and keeping them fit for purpose.I want to also assure the member that the whole policy team has now been underground. I have been underground at Huntly East Underground Mine. It was an eye-opener for me to see that and to see what is happening there. To be literally covered in—I was going to say black but actually it is white because I think they cover the coal there in lime or something do they not? It is quite impressive to see what is happening there as we further Supplementary Order Paper 374 on the protocols. We have tried to put in place a good protocol for safety underground. That is why I was there. We also say to the member about his other point that hey the workers the people down there we need to be talking to them and we certainly have been—The CHAIRPERSON (Lindsay Tisch): I am sorry to interrupt the honourable Minister. The time has come for me to report progress.Progress reported.Report adopted.