Improving WHS Dispute Resolution

Improving Dispute Resolution under the Model Work Health and Safety Laws – Safe Work Australia Public Consultation, March 2026

The ACTU is committed to advancing work health and safety for all Australian workers through a rights-based, participatory approach. The ACTU has two member positions for SafeWork Australia, representing the interests of workers and ensuring that the voices and experiences of working people are central to national WHS policy and regulatory development.

The ACTU’s strategy is focused on supporting unions to actively organise workers around healthy and safe work. This includes winning and embedding new health and safety rights at work and building the capacity of unions to use both new and existing rights to organise. By empowering unions and their members to take collective action, the ACTU seeks to ensure that work health and safety is not just a matter of compliance, but a fundamental right that is actively realised in every workplace.

In making this submission, the ACTU acknowledges and supports the submissions made by other Trades and Labour Councils and affiliated unions, including Unions NT, Queensland Council of Unions, SA Unions, the Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees Association (SDA), United Workers Union and the Australian Education Union (Tasmanian Branch).

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