Dear Editor,
I read with interest the comments from Mark Gepp in Wednesday’s ‘Sunraysia Daily’ regarding recent changes to Worksafe legislation. Mr Gepp apparently feels so strongly about these changes that he was compelled to put pen to paper.
If he is really so committed to workplace safety why didn’t he speak in the Parliamentary debate when the changes were discussed?
Perhaps he remained silent because he knows that if he had made his claims in Parliament they would have been immediately shot down in flames.
Workplace safety should be the top priority for every employer, and for every employee. Worksafe is focussed on working with both employers and employees to eliminate workplace dangers and deliver safer work environments. But rather than working with employers, Daniel Andrews and Mark Gepp seem to think that workplace safety can be improved by bullying and intimidating employers. It can’t!
Daniel Andrews latest changes to the Worksafe legislation are all about threatening employers with a 500% increase in penalties for offences that have never, in the history of the Act, occurred.
If the Andrews Government is serious about saving lives it would follow Worksafe’s example and work constructively with employers. If Mark Gepp is serious about workplace safety perhaps he should stop attacking employers and start participating in parliamentary debates.
Yours sincerely,
David Morris