29 November 2019

Media Release

---

The NSW Labor Opposition sends its deepest sympathies to the family, friends and colleagues of the plumbing worker who was killed at work on the IMAX Darling Harbour site earlier today.

This tragedy is the latest in a spate of workplace deaths that have occurred across the construction industry throughout 2019.

Labor is calling on the NSW Government to take action and, at a bare minimum, strengthen and accelerate the passage of the Work Health and Safety Amendment Bill 2019 to put in place measures to make workplaces safer, and to hold employers to account for workplace deaths.

The Government’s failure to progress their own legislation through the Lower House before the Parliament ended for the year means that stronger laws won’t be in place to apply to this tragedy, and any other serious incidents that may occur over the summer.

Labor Shadow Minister for Industrial Relations Adam Searle said: “Today the sympathies of the whole Labour Movement are with the family, friends and colleagues of the worker who was killed on the job at Darling Harbour earlier today.”

“One workplace death is too many, but this shocking incident is the latest in a spate of workplace deaths that just simply shouldn’t be happening. The Government has to act.” — Adam Searle MLC, Shadow Minister for Industrial Relations

Labor Shadow Minister for Consumer Protection Julia Finn said: “This state of affairs just simply can’t continue. Working families shouldn’t have to worry that the last time they might see their mum or dad, their son or their daughter, is when they leave for work in the morning.”

“The Government has done nothing over the past eight years to protect workers and stop deaths at work. These tragedies have to end. Too many lives have been lost. We need the Government to take strong and effective action at the earliest possible opportunity.”