WORK HEALTH AND SAFETY BILL 2019 —
CONSULTATION
1160. Hon PETER COLLIER to
the Leader of the House representing the Attorney General:
I ask this question on behalf of Hon Michael Mischin, who is
on urgent parliamentary business.
I refer to the amendments to clauses 230, 231 and 232 of the
Work Health and Safety Bill 2019, which first appeared in Legislative Council
supplementary notice paper 155, issue 5, of 15 September 2020, and to the
memorandum to members of Parliament explaining those amendments, which was
tabled on 20 October as tabled paper 4503.
(1) When was the Attorney General first consulted about those
clauses?
(2) When was the Director of Public Prosecutions first
consulted about those clauses?
(3) When was the State Solicitor's Office first
consulted about those clauses?
(4) What advice did the Attorney General, the DPP and
the SSO provide concerning them, to whom and when?
(5) Given that
approval to print the bill would have been granted by cabinet before November
2019, why did the Attorney General not notice and draw to the attention of his
fellow minister that what was proposed by clauses 230, 231 and 232 was
inconsistent with Western Australian prosecution law and practice?
(6) Having
regard to the comments in tabled paper 4503 that the Office of the Director of
Public Prosecutions could not carry out
certain of the functions proposed by clause 321 because it is already lacking
in resources, to what extent is it lacking in resources and how is that
deficiency being addressed?
Hon SUE ELLERY replied:
I thank the honourable member for some notice of the
question. I had asked that the honourable member be made aware of the answer
that I am about to give. I am not sure whether that has happened.
The Attorney General is unable to provide an answer to the
question in the time provided. An undertaking is given to provide an answer on
the next sitting day of the house.