May 27, 2008 Dismantling of the Australian Safety and Compensation Council The Australian Safety and Compensation Council (ASCC) CEO Tom Fisher told the ACTU OHS and Workers Compensation conference in Melbourne last week that he was at the helm of National Occupational Health and Safety Council (NOHSC) when it was being "dismantled" (by the previous Government). The same was now happening to the ASCC, and it was his role to create a new body to replace it. Fisher flagged the new body would be in place by the end of the year and that his team had started overseeing the preparation of legislation. One of the "difficulties" widely seen with the ASCC and NOHSC, he said, was when standards were developed they had to go back to the states and territories for roundtables and regulatory impact statements and a different standard would inevitably emerge from what the body had wanted. Fisher said that would no longer occur. He hoped legislation for the new body would be introduced in the Federal Parliament's winter session. Fisher said crucially, an "Inter-Government Agreement" would underpin the work of the new body. "That was critical," he said, “because criticism of the ASCC was that it lacked teeth. The Inter-Government Agreement would "prevent" states and territories from "stymieing" any reform”. Fisher tipped the new body would provide advice to the Workplace Relations Ministers' Council (WRMC) on OHS and Workers Compensation and would continue the ASCC's work on injury data collection and research. "The Prime Minister and Premiers have made it clear if the WRMC fails, they will step in." In essence, the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) "would be riding shotgun [over] the WRMC" to ensure things got done, Fisher said. ACTU Asst Secretary, Geoff Fary, told the conference (above) that the peak union body had made a "robust submission" to the Commonwealth against the possibility that an "expert panel" would replace the ASCC's tripartite model.