Four miners dead while Government Safety Committee stalls for months after failing to reach female gender quota

Four miners have died while a Government safety committee sat idle for months after failing to reach their female gender quota.

Queensland’s Mine Health and Safety Advisory Committee was dissolved in late 2018 before the spate of deaths, taking the mining fatality total to six over the last year.

Labor’s Queensland Mines Minister Anthony Lynham said the committee had not met this year because of challenges meeting gender quotas.

“Certain representation has to be made on the committee, you have to make sure that gender representation is respected,” Lynham said.

“Because of the significance of the appointments, that has been difficult, so the committee has been reestablished just recently.”

Liberal National Party Opposition leader Deb Frecklington called for a parliamentary investigation into mining safety in light of the recent deaths. Ms Frecklington said the disbanding of the mining safety advisory committee also needed to be probed, The Australian reported.