WA needs to cooperate on IR law: Gillard

Western Australia needs to stop putting up barriers to industrial relations and
safety laws, Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard says.
Ms Gillard said the federal government was making good progress on its productivity
agenda but WA, the nation's only Liberal governed state, was resistant on two vital
areas.
"We need the West to cooperate fully in a national cooperative effort to harmonise
our industrial relations and occupational health and safety laws and to create a
seamless national economy," Ms Gillard told a breakfast crowd in Perth on Thursday.
Industrial relations and occupational health and safety reforms were vital to
boosting Australia's productive capacity, Ms Gillard said, a day after the Fair Work
system came into force, replacing the Howard government's Work Choices.
"All states should get on board, there is a once in a lifetime opportunity for the
states and commonwealth to work together to secure national unitary workplace
relations as the system for the whole nation," she said.
"Or conversely there's a once in a lifetime risk of letting that opportunity go past
and continuing to see multiple systems in different states with all of the costs and
diseconomy that means for employers."
While a framework of uniform laws had been agreed and new model laws were
anticipated by December to guide state and territory parliaments in enacting new
legislation, WA was having "second thoughts", she said.
"Disappointingly the West Australian government, after it had fully participated in
the voting process in the modern laws framework, is threatening to undermine this
process by hedging its bets on implementing the outcomes of the harmonisation
process," Ms Gillard said.
"In doing this it risks denying West Australian businesses and workers the
significant benefits which will flow from harmonised OH&S laws."
The current situation, in which nine separate commonwealth and state jurisdictions,
10 statutes and 50 other legislative instruments governed occupational health and
safety in Australia was "ridiculous and outdated", Ms Gillard said.
Europe, in contrast, 20 years ago managed to create one system despite having almost
500 million people across 27 countries speaking 23 official languages.
"With just one country and 22 million people who speak the one official language I
think it's time we did the same," Ms Gillard said.
WA was a proud state with strong tradition and independent pride, Ms Gillard told
the West Australian Leadership Matters breakfast.
"In some ways Western Australia is more Australian that Australia itself, bigger,
tougher and more resilient," she said.
But WA did not need to surrender to achieve the reforms and allow a seamless
national economy.
"Western Australia has a role to play by breaking down barriers to other states," Ms
Gillard said.
"It won't mean surrendering the quality that makes the West stand out."