The Hon. H.J. GUMBYS (15:45): I rise to support the Statutes Amendment (Industrial Relations Portfolio) (No. 2) Bill 2026. Much of this bill is concerned with the detail of how our industrial relations laws operate. Those details matter to the people who rely on them. Workers should be able to understand an entitlement and have confidence that it can be used when it is needed. That means being able to question a pay calculation, take leave to care for a family member or raise a safety concern and have it properly investigated. It also means giving the people elected to represent their workmates the training and support to do that job.
The amendments before us address these everyday circumstances, beginning with the arrangements that help workers keep their workplaces safe. A person who takes on the role of a health and safety representative accepts a significant responsibility. Their workmates have elected them to help identify risks and raise concerns. They need proper training to carry out that responsibility with confidence.
This bill confirms that an elected health and safety representative can choose their training provider from SafeWork SA's approved list. That brings South Australia into line with the model laws and every other Australian jurisdiction. The training must be approved, and the representative should be able to choose the approved provider that best equips them for the role.
Supporting those representatives also means ensuring that their election is properly recorded. The bill allows a representative, their union or an approved training provider to notify SafeWork SA of their election where the employer has failed to do so. The requirement for valid election remains, but a failure to complete the notification should not leave the regulator's records out of date.
Alongside these changes, the bill addresses a practical obstacle to investigating suspected safety contraventions. It allows work health and safety entry permit holders to remove samples for testing off site. The existing provisions allow onsite testing that is not always practicable, including where lead testing requires equipment, as mentioned previously, that cannot be used on site.
Workers need reliable information about what they may be exposed to so that the risk can be properly addressed. A safety concern left unresolved can affect a worker's health for years and affect their family lives with those consequences too. Getting those provisions right helps ensure concerns can be investigated before further harm occurs.
Effective workplace protections also depend on people being able to speak up. That principle runs through the changes to the state Fair Work Act. These provisions concern public sector and local government employment, while private sector workers are covered by the commonwealth system.
The bill brings a number of protections in the state system into closer alignment with those already available federally. One is the prohibition on pay secrecy terms. Workers should be able to discuss their pay and ask questions about remuneration. That matters, particularly, when secrecy may conceal unequal treatment between women and men. Nobody will be required to disclose their pay: that choice belongs to the employee.
The freedom to ask questions must also be supported by protection against unfair consequences for doing so. The bill therefore strengthens and consolidates protections against adverse action, including where a worker makes a complaint or inquiry about their employment. A worker who believes their pay is wrong should be able to ask for an explanation without fearing that doing so will put their job at risk. When people can raise concerns early, there is a better opportunity to resolve them. Clear protections help workers understand where they stand and help employers understand their responsibilities. The changes to leave entitlements apply the same concern for fair treatment to the pressures working families face.
The bill broadens access to bereavement leave to cover serious illness or injury affecting close relatives and household members. It allows all 10 days of an employee's annual personal and carers leave entitlement to be used for caring responsibilities, rather than limiting that use to just five days. A family member's need for care does not arrange itself around that five-day limit. This gives employees greater flexibility within their existing entitlement when someone depends on them.
Alongside these changes to workers' entitlements and protections, the bill addresses the administration of other legislation within the industrial relations portfolio. This includes supporting the implementation of the Explosives Act 2024 through approved codes of practice and clearer regulation-making powers. Explosives are used across a range of industries and workers and businesses need requirements that are clear, workable and supported by practical guidance. SafeWork SA will undertake further consultation with industry on draft regulations to help ensure those requirements work effectively.
The bill also improves administrative arrangements for the Return to Work Minister's Advisory Committee. Changes to appointments and vacancies will help maintain the committee's capacity to provide advice when its representatives change.
These measures deal with different parts of our industrial relations system but each helps ensure that the system works properly for the people who depend upon it. An entitlement needs a scheme that administers it effectively. A safety representative needs training and a worker raising a concern needs protection they can understand and use. I am proud to support these improvements as part of a Labor government and I acknowledge the minister and the workers, unions, employers and scheme boards whose input has informed them. I commend this bill to the council.