New harmonised work health and safety laws have come into effect in New South Wales,  the ACT, Queensland, the Northern Territory and Commonwealth jurisdictions. 

 

Victoria and Western Australia have not introduced the model laws and have indicated that they intend to delay implementation,  while the South Australian parliament will resume debate on the legislation on 14th February.  Tasmania’s Legislative Council amended the Bill by changing the commencement date to 1 January 2013.

 

Safe Work Australia has published a series of legislative fact sheets and interpretative guidelines to explain aspects of the model work health and safety laws. These documents are available here.

 

The Workplace Relations Ministers’ Council  approved the National Compliance and Enforcement Policy in August last year, and work is underway to finalise the model WHS Mining Regulations after public comment closed on Friday 14 October 2011.

 

Work is also continuing by Safe Work Australia on the development of the National Work Health Safety Strategy 2012-22.

 

Safe Work Australia hosted eleven consultation workshops across Australia between May and September last year, with more than 500 people providing input. A draft of the new strategy is expected to be available for public comment early in the year.

 

More information is available on the Safe Work Australia website at http://safeworkaustralia.gov.au.