Mick Gentleman fronts privileges inquiry over WorkSafe prohibition notice on Legislative Assembly

Mr Gentleman, on Tuesday, doubled down on his actions which ultimately led to a prohibition notice being issued to budget estimates in August by the workplace safety watchdog.

Mr Gentleman fronted the parliamentary inquiry into the issuing of the notice. The inquiry is determining whether the safety watchdog breached parliamentary privilege.

The stand-off began following a disagreement between Mr Gentleman and the estimates committee about whether hearings should be conducted remotely, face-to-face or a hybrid model with a combination of both.

WorkSafe inspectors attended the Legislative Assembly following an email from Mr Gentleman's office to the ACT work health and safety commissioner Jacqueline Agius.

The email said the Minister had concerns as the committee wanted all witnesses to appear in person.

"We have significant concerns ... about how the committee will meet WHS obligations in the current COVID situation," the email from Mr Gentleman's office said.

"Would appreciate any further WHS advice you have on this matter."

Inspectors issued a prohibition notice to budget estimates as they were unable to find evidence of a risk assessment for the hearings. The hearings were delayed for one week due to the notice.

Mr Gentleman has been accused of using his position to "influence, suggest or pressure" WorkSafe ACT. The Minister has strenuously denied this.

He also rejected that he had made a complaint and repeated this assertion anytime it was referred to as a complaint by the privileges committee.

"I will reiterate that email was a request for advice. There was no direction in that email," Mr Gentleman told the hearing on Tuesday.

Mr Gentleman said the email had relayed concerns put to his office by senior bureaucrats.

Committee chair Jeremy Hanson challenged this because the email did not reference that public servants had concerns.

"It says the Minister has serious concerns ... the complaints that may or may not have been made by senior bureaucrats weren't what instigated this investigation," Mr Hanson said.

Ms Agius acknowledged on Monday that Mr Gentleman's office had only emailed to seek advice but she said every matter referred to WorkSafe ACT was dealt with as a complaint.

Mr Gentleman was pressed on whether he had any evidence of senior public servants complaining about the format of the hearings. The Minister said he did not think he did but would check.

MORE WORKSAFE NOTICE NEWS:

One of the concerns raised by Mr Gentleman was there was a lack of consultation with witnesses. He had said the committee had written to government ministers about the format of the hearing.

Privileges committee member Jo Clay questioned Mr Gentleman about the fact members of the estimates committee were unable to contact public servants and it was up for the ministers to do this.

"So if the criticism is that there was no consultation, that consultation should have been done through your office," Ms Clay said.

Initially, Mr Gentleman wanted the hearings to be conducted virtually, saying it had been this way for two years. He said he found the virtual hearings to be "quite effective".

But the estimates committee told the inquiry on Monday that it was more effective to question ministers face-to-face and there had been issues with the technology.

The committee also pointed out that six of Australia's parliaments had conducted estimate hearings completely face-to-face and the others had adopted a hybrid model.

The hearings were eventually held face-to-face in the Legislative Assembly chamber. Senior officials and ministers attend in-person and other bureaucrats attended remotely.

The estimates committee said, on Monday, that officials would have always had the option to attend remotely, even prior to the notice. But Mr Gentleman said he did not believe communications had indicated this.

He also said he did not believe the hearings could be held safely.

"At no time did I feel confident, at that point, that the committee was ready in a COVID-safe manner to proceed with in-person here," Mr Gentleman said.

The privileges committee will deliver its report on December 1. No further public hearings are scheduled at this stage.

We've made it a whole lot easier for you to have your say. Our new comment platform requires only one log-in to access articles and to join the discussion on The Canberra Times website. Find out how to register so you can enjoy civil, friendly and engaging discussions. See our moderation policy here.