Authorities will investigate factors that prevented dozens of alleged breaches from being actioned.
Reece Whitby is tired of hearing excuses for why resources inspections were cancelled, and recently ordered a comprehensive audit into how reported breaches are handled.
The Western Australian environment, climate action, racing and gaming minister hopes this will get to the bottom of 64 cancelled inspections at “high to extreme risk” mine sites during the 2022 financial year.
“There is going to be a very thorough audit process in the department to work out new ways to do things better,” he said according to Seven West Media.
“That is something that we have already embarked on, we take it on the chin, we acknowledge it, we accept it and we are moving forward in responding to it.”
The remarks came after state Auditor-General Caroline Spencer discovered “concerning” weak enforcement practices at both the Department of Water and Environment Regulation and Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety (DMIRS). Spencer’s Compliance with Mining Environmental Conditions report showed no record of enforcement action from DMIRS throughout fiscal 2022.
Whitby acknowledged some public servants need to improve, and reminded top bureaucrats of their obligation to “adequately” enforce and deter breaches. He became unhappy after learning there was a towering pile of reports still waiting to be actioned at the time of publication.
“I met and spoke with the director general … about this report and senior executives. They are very mindful of what is required and where we need to go,” he said according to the media outlet.
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Unfortunately this is not an unexpected result. Another report of unactioned reports. The only way a mine site inspection can be undertaken, is to go to the mine physically and conduct it. Don’t ask the mine when is convenient, tell the mine when it will ne done.
Unfortunately, this is a common story in healthcare as well. Throughout the first waves of Covid I worked in aged care & the facility I worked at absolutely used lock downs to postpone inspections by the ACQSC. Management were practically giddy when they discovered that this tactic worked & used it to their advantage, ensuring that the facility went unchecked for almost two years. Even complaints about unqualified personnel administering medications & residents being neglected to the point of grade 3 & 4 pressure sores were not investigated in person by the ACQSC, all they would do is send an email to the facility manager & rely on her account of the incidents before closing the complaint. The facility manager at the time was the daughter in law of the owner, so she told the ACQSC what her father in law wanted them to hear. It is scandalous.