Thursday, 2 May 2019

International Workers Memorial Day

Ms GARRETT (Eastern Victoria) (10:56): On Monday I attended the International Workers Memorial Day ceremony at Victorian Trades Hall with many other members of this chamber to honour the memory of all those who have lost their lives in their workplaces. It was a sad and solemn ceremony, and a vital one. I would like to commend Trades Hall secretary Luke Hilakari for preparing such an important and moving ceremony, and for his inspiring address. We were all left in tears, really, hearing firsthand stories of families devastated by the loss of a loved one at work. The fact is that too many people go to work and do not return and too many families and communities are devastated, pretty much on a weekly basis, all around the country.

I would like to acknowledge the extraordinary efforts of members of the trade union movement who work tirelessly every day to make our workplaces safer and the delegates who often face great hostility just going about their business as occupational health and safety reps. I thank them for their work. I also welcome the Attorney-General’s recent announcement of 40 new WorkSafe inspectors to attend road and rail construction sites, as so many workplace deaths happen there. Everyone who goes to work has a right to come home safely. The catchcry of that ceremony was ‘Honour the dead, fight like hell for the living’.