‘Risk of serious injury’: NSW parliament hit with SafeWork complaint after 20-hour sitting

3 months ago 16

An MP has complained to the workplace safety regulator, citing extreme fatigue and the risk of serious injury after members endured a 20-hour sitting day, as the state government lays the groundwork for another possible marathon night to push through a controversial hunting bill this week.

Animal Justice MP Emma Hurst wrote to the SafeWork last Friday after the upper house sat until 6am earlier this month to debate workers compensation reforms.

The upper house can vote to extend a sitting day well into the next morning.

The upper house typically concludes at 10.30pm, but members can vote to remove the “hard adjournment” and continue sitting.

On Tuesday, Labor’s leader in the upper house, Penny Sharpe, moved to extend the sitting days on both Wednesday and Thursday, to audible groans from members of the crossbench. Sharpe said a house vote would decide if a sitting day was extended, not the government, which is in a minority.

Labor has rejected many parts of the controversial hunting bill, including enshrining a “right to hunt”, but is expected to support a watered-down version, which would create a Conservation Hunting Authority and open up more public land for the hunting of pests.

Gun control advocates – including Walter Mikac, who founded the Alannah and Madeline Foundation after his daughters and his wife Nanette were killed in the Port Arthur massacre – have criticised the bill as regressive, describing the authority that would be created as similar to the NRA in the United States.

“This bill poses a direct threat to public safety and should be rejected immediately by the government, instead of being waved through with minor amendments in a late-night sitting,” Mikac said.

On Tuesday, Hurst called on the government and other MPs to oppose any further early morning sitting days unless for the purpose of genuinely urgent legislation.

“We should not be debating legislation that will relax gun laws at 3 or 4am in the morning. This bill has real-world consequences and threatens public safety. Debating this sort of legislation all through the night is reckless, and it undermines the important work done in parliament,” Hurst said.

Hurst and Nationals MP Nichole Overall wrote to upper house president Ben Franklin to raise concerns over the impact to staff. Overall told the parliament last week she was forced to drive three hours home after the marathon debate, with just four hours of sleep.

“If I fall asleep at the wheel, upon whom does the duty of care fall? And beyond exhaustion, staff welfare and basic decency, what does this do for democracy?” Overall said.

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