Mr PYNE —My question is addressed to the Minister for Workplace Relations and Small Business. Minister, in light of the discussions due to be held tonight with the Maritime Union of Australia and the ACTU, what are some of the concerns the government has, particularly in light of the poor levels of occupational health and safety that beset the waterfront?

Mr REITH —I thank the member for Sturt for his question. Beer and sandwiches will certainly be supplied upon request. We are looking forward to a constructive meeting with the MUA and the ACTU. One of the issues we want to discuss with the MUA is the whole issue of workplace safety on the waterfront and in the stevedoring industry generally. We have already done quite a bit of work analysing the safety of people who work in the stevedoring industry. We have been struck by some quite startling results of our initial research. For example, the level of fatalities on the waterfront are running at more than twice the level of the Australian mining industry and seven times the all industries average in the years 1991-95. Over the same period, the incidence of injuries and disease rose from 108.6 cases per thousand employees to 169.6 cases per thousand. These figures compare highly unfavourably with the all Australian average of 29.1 cases per thousand. The report that we have had prepared sums it up very well in the executive summary. It says:

Our review of the available statistical evidence suggests that the stevedoring industry is performing very poorly in comparison to other sectors of the maritime industry and other major industries in Australia. This is reflected in a high rate of work related fatalities, injuries and disease.

It then goes on to recount some of those figures. It also says:

Clearly, previous calls to attend to the poor safety record of the stevedoring industry have gone unanswered.

That is not a report put together by the government. We have gone outside of government to an independent firm to obtain advice on safety levels within the maritime industry. One of those persons who was responsible for this report was Michael Easson, the former secretary of the New South Wales Labor Council, an associate commissioner of the Industry Commission on occupational health and safety, and current chairman of the workplace relations group at Corrs Chambers Westgarth. When we meet with the MUA and the ACTU tonight we will give them a copy of this report and seek from them a constructive response.

The last thing I would say to members of the House is that, when we sit down with the unions to talk about the waterfront and the problems of the waterfront, the one thing we ask of them is that they at least acknowledge the problems that are genuinely there and that genuinely need to be fixed. If they have trouble accepting the reality of these claims that we have made, we only ask them to fairly look at the evidence. The evidence put together by Michael Easson on safety is very compelling. If the unions are genuinely concerned about the safety of their own members, the first thing—

Mr Tanner —So it is their fault, is it?

Mr REITH —It is not a question of fault. If anybody is at fault it is the previous Labor administration who for 13 years was never prepared to do anything about this. You claim concern about the average worker and you have one of the worst safety records in the country. Thirteen years of Labor and you leave them with a shockingly unsafe workplace and you have the cheek to interject about what we are trying to do. We want to sit down sensibly with the unions and say, `To the extent that you have responsibilities on the waterfront, don't deny the problem, acknowledge the problem.' We want to see whether we can find solutions in the interests of their own members.