IN the wake of recent fundraising efforts, the planned Ballarat Regional Workers\u2019 Memorial in Delacombe has received a major State Government cash injection.<\/p>\n
The Acting Premier James Merlino and Minister for Workplace Safety Ingrid Stitt visited the site to announce the a contribution of $50,000, half of the total cost of the memorial.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis funding compliments the incredible community fundraising efforts, the efforts of Ballarat Trades Hall and the Union movement, and the mates, to produce something quite special,\u201d Mr Merlino said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe lost 65 people to workplace injury or disease last year\u2026 every worker should be safe and home back home to their families and friends.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen someone loses their life at work it has a devastating lifelong impact on their families, their friends and colleagues, it\u2019s something they will never forget.\u201d<\/p>\n
Commemorating the lives of Jack Brownlee and Charlie Hawkins who lost their lives in a workplace accident in 2018, the memorial will be both a place for remembering the fallen as well as acknowledging the fight against workplace negligence.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow it\u2019s happening, it\u2019s amazing and I just want to thank the community, the unions, politicians, everyone\u2019s come on board and shown great support,\u201d Dave Brownlee said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s about people not coming home from work, so anyone who joins this group now, I feel for them because they have a hell of a fight ahead of them, the time is just so devastating.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t want anyone to have to be here but it\u2019s a great honour to have Jack and Charlie recognised.\u201d<\/p>\n
Both Jack and Charlie\u2019s families advocated strongly to strengthen workplace safety and negligence laws, leading to workplace manslaughter becoming a criminal offence from July last year.<\/p>\n
Lana Cormie, Charlie Hawkins\u2019 wife, said while it\u2019s great to have this sort of acknowledgement of those who have died at work, there\u2019s still a long way to go in achieving total workplace safety.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe reality is that every single day in our country, capitalism is killing our people and they are dying because profit is trumping life,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI hope that this memorial will act both as a remembrance but also as an acknowledgement of those that worked for better workplace safety for us and the next generation but also to signify hope that it doesn\u2019t always need to be this way.\u201d<\/p>\n
Creator of the memorial, local artist Garry Anderson said he\u2019s currently in the early design and prototype phases of the piece.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a figurative work and I\u2019ve pieced together one of the figures in the size that it will more than likely be,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s going to be around for a long time so I would rather get it right as best as I can than be known as the quickest one made.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
IN the wake of recent fundraising efforts, the planned Ballarat Regional Workers\u2019 Memorial in Delacombe has received a major State Government cash injection. The Acting Premier James Merlino and Minister for Workplace Safety Ingrid Stitt visited the site to announce the a contribution of $50,000, half of the total cost of the memorial. \u201cThis funding […]<\/p>\n