Thursday, 3 April 2025

Ministers statements: workplace safety

Ben CARROLL (Niddrie – Minister for Education, Minister for WorkSafe and the TAC) (14:39): There is no greater privilege than being elected to stand up for the rights of injured workers and workers that get up out of bed every day and go to work. That is what we on this side of the chamber are about, workers like those I got to meet with on Sunday: retail workers, transport workers, hospitality workers – workers that just go to work every day but face acts of intimidation, power imbalance and aggressive behaviour. That is why on Sunday I launched a new campaign with the support of the Victorian Trades Hall Council and a range of unions including the ANMF, the ASU, the SDA, the TWU, the RTBU and the UWU, public-facing unions that every day support their workers to be safe at work – like young Alex, who was pushed around for making sure a customer had paid for their items, or Chanel, an RTBU member who was sworn at while just trying to make sure a customer could get to the next train station.

It is not part of anyone’s job to face acts of power imbalance, aggression and intimidation. That is why the Allan Labor government, through WorkSafe Victoria, has launched a new campaign called Don’t Cross the Line. Everyone, no matter how frustrated you are waiting for that coffee or paying for those groceries, should always remember it is predominantly someone under the age of 25 that is helping you, and often it is their first job. So we are calling on our employers and our unions to work together to educate the community. This is a community issue. We know that after the pandemic and after a range of interest rate rises people are doing it tough, but there is never any need to cross the line. Support workers who are just going about doing their job.

On this side of the chamber we restored common-law rights. We voted down WorkChoices and made sure that WorkChoices did not become a part of our great nation. The Allan Labor government will always stand on the side of workers – everyday workers, often young people with their first job. That is why this new initiative of WorkSafe will be running across all our media channels very shortly. It will support workers doing their jobs every day.