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Holly Clarke, 24, and Patrick McMullen, 66, were killed when an “uncontrolled explosion” detonated inside Endeavor Mine in Cobar about 3.45am Tuesday. Another worker was injured during the explosion, and remains in hospital in a stable condition. The Premier revealed during a speech before delegates of the Australian Workers Union in western Sydney on Wednesday one of the workers killed was a member of the AWU. “Let me be absolutely clear, accidents like this should not be occurring on any work site, or mine, any site or any building site in the year 2025,” Mr Minns said. The Premier said the state had come a long way since the “deadly, low-paid mining fix”. “Those miners in Cobar were working 500 metres beneath the ground … that’s always going to be difficult and dangerous work,” he said. “And you need someone in your corner prioritising your safety over company profits.” Mr Minns, who is a member of the AWU, said the union and the Australian labour movement “are mourning with all of you today”. Endeavour is a major underground site used for mining zinc, silver and lead and is owned by Polymetals. Mr McMullen and Ms Clarke, who were both Cobar locals, have been widely mourned by loved ones and former colleagues. On Wednesday, friends and family remembered Ms Clarke as a “beautiful soul” who was “taken far too soon”. “My heart is so broken right now,” one person wrote online. “I’ll never forget you or our days at Inland, you always brightened up a room when you walked in.” Impassioned plea for WorkSafe Addressing one of Australia’s oldest and largest trade unions, Mr Minns made an impassioned plea for worker safety and an empowered WorkSafe regulator. Earlier this year, the NSW government enshrined into law that WorkSafe would be a stand-alone regulator and sought to bolster its powers. Mr Minns said the AWU had complained while Labor was in opposition that the regulator “wasn’t responsive to union concerns”. “Instead of turning up the work sites, it could (send) out stern letters of warning, and when things went wrong and people got hurt, the penalties were far too weak,” he said. “So this union said Safe Work needed to change, and delegates, I want to report to you that Safe Work is changing.” Mr Minns said the state government had also increased penalties for non-compliant businesses. “As yesterday’s tragedy shows, we can’t stop all accidents on work sites, and we can’t promise that, no responsible government can do that,” he said. “But we can hold people accountable, and they will change as a result of these law changes. We believe it will change behaviour. “When companies know that these penalties are in place, then they’ll be held accountable for their behaviour. “So these changes to the law won’t stop all accidents, but they will go a long way.” No renewables ‘without gas’ In his wide-reaching speech, Mr Minns also touted the government’s work on silicosis-causing imported stone. He said the government would also work with the union to change regulations following calls by the AWU for mandatory air monitoring at tunnelling sites. The AWU had voiced concerns that silica dust was being produced by tunnelling. On the Narrabri gas fields, Mr Minns reiterated that “there is no renewable energy transition if we don’t have the gas there to back it up”. “We have to be adult and pragmatic about this,” he said “Frankly, both sides of politics in state parliament have been hand-wringing and meandering on this for too long and get it going.” He also made clear that “mining is not an industry of the past”. “Here in NSW, we’ve got most of the critical minerals we need for electric cars and the future economy, not just here, but around the world,” he said. “We need to get those mines off the ground as soon as possible.”
