Victoria will not adopt the model Work
Health and Safety laws, according to Victorian Treasurer Kim Wells.
In an
official budget speech, Treasurer Wells recently said that enacting the laws
would cost too much while there would be insufficient benefit for the state.
“The
Government will not sign up to the current proposal for harmonised legislation
for occupational health and safety,” he said.
“It offers
little benefit for Victoria
to offset the $3.4 billion of estimated costs, the majority of which falls on
small business.”
The
Victorian Government recently commissioned PricewaterhouseCoopers to examine
the cost of enacting the model Work Health and Safety laws.
The resulting
report found that it would cost Victoria
$812 million to transition to the new laws and $587 million per year over the
first five years in ongoing costs to businesses.
The report
also found that small enterprises, which comprise 90 per cent of Victorian
businesses, would bear 78 per cent of transition costs and 74 per cent of
ongoing costs.
While
Treasurer Wells said in his speech that the state would “continue to work
towards best practice legislation” the Victorian Government said the proposed
laws do not deliver on the intent of the COAG reform agreed to in 2008, which
aimed to reduce the cost of regulation and enhance productivity and workforce
mobility.
Victoria’s Assistant Treasurer Gordon
Rich-Phillips previously said any move to harmonise OHS laws should decrease
costs for business while still delivering a safe work environment.
“Many small
and medium-sized businesses do not have the ability to readily adapt to the
changes that would be required under the proposed laws,” he said.
“Those
businesses will incur costs as they try to understand their obligations under
the new laws.”