Ten years ago today, Canberra was rocked by the tragic death of 21-year-old Ben Catanzariti on a worksite at the Kingston Foreshore.

A decade on, his mother Kay, father Barney, and brother Jack gathered at the National Workers Memorial today, Thursday 21 July with the Canberra community, to grieve the loss of their brother and son, still without justice.

During the service, ACT Work Health and Safety Commissioner at WorkSafe ACT, Jacqueline Agius released the formal recommendations from the Work Health and Safety Prosecutions Review.

In a tearful exchange, Ms Agius issued a formal apology to Kay Catanzariti, for her unimaginable loss that continues today.  

“Kay, I say this to you – on Ben’s tenth anniversary, you are more than an advocate. You are more than just a mum of a boy who lost his life. You are the mum of Ben and Jack,” Ms Agius said.

“I have listened to you, I have heard you, I have felt your pain and your despair, and I am sorry.”

Mrs Catanzariti said over the last 10 years, she’s heard “a lot of lip service” but is grateful to Ms Agius for acting on her word.

“I trusted and believed many people before, but Jacqui from the ACT has come through, and it meant a lot – it really meant a lot,” she said.

“Naturally, what we want or wanted was accountability for Ben’s death, but having that apology has helped to a certain degree.”

After a decade, Mrs Catanzariti’s fighting spirit is unwavering, and she says she gets her strength from her motherhood.

“I’m a mum… Barney and Jack would look at me and say, ‘Why? No one is going to listen to you. Ben’s just a statistic. Why put yourself through this, Mum? Who cares, he’s a number’,” she said.

“I care. No family should have to endure what we have had to endure. It’s not up to us to try and have accountability and justice, it’s up to the regulators, it’s up to the government, it is up to the powers that be.

“At the end of the day, they broke me. Because I believed I had faith in the regulators I trusted them, because that was their chosen profession and that’s why I went to Federal WHS to try and change, and I learnt so much about the laws.

“They failed him. They failed all Australian workers. All I wanted was a guilty. Someone took a shortcut, killed our son… and I hope no other family will have to endure as much pain as we have done.”

Work Health and Saftey recommendations released

Twelve recommendations have been handed to the WHS Commissioner from the Boland Review, and Ms Agius said all recommendations for WorkSafe will be implemented to ensure workplaces are safer in the ACT.

“The 12 recommendations that have been handed down in the review essentially recommend a hybrid model for the ACT; a hybrid model will consist of a small in-house prosecution team, industrial manslaughter laws going straight to the DPP, and having the ability for the WHS Chief Commissioner to bring prosecutions on behalf of WorkSafe,” Ms Agius said.

“I will be taking that view to the WHS Council, and they will decide whether to promote that review and recommend that the act adopt those recommendations.

“Already under the Workplace Health and Safety Act, there is the ability for me to bring prosecution. There are other bits of legislation, however, that don’t allow me to do that.

“The DPP are continuing to prosecute industrial manslaughter and also some of those more serious prosecutions, but it still gives the DPP that control of those prosecutions.”

When asked if these recommendations would have changed the outcome of Ben’s case, which did not see a guilty verdict, Ms Agius said it was difficult to say.

“The DPP would have still been handling Ben’s case, yes. There would also be an opportunity for the Workplace Health and Safety Commission to bring a prosecution if there were other matters,” she said.

“Whether or not they would have been successful? Hindsight is a wonderful thing.”

Mrs Catanzariti called the recommendations a “breath of fresh air”.

“Now it is up to Minister Mick Gentleman and others to put this through swiftly, in a timely manner, and I hope the minister will do this – a timely manner that matters to us. Not four years, not three years, not two years, not one year. This year,” she said.

“I hope with these new legislations being put through, laws being put through, will ease or prevent. We need that strong deterrent, and we need accountability for the people.

“Because every worker has the right to come home,” Mrs Catanzariti said.

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