While the Prime Minister has abandoned plans to let under-18s drive forklifts – and could not have bypassed the states to do so – they are not the only machines Australian children may be driving.
Scott Morrison came under fire for suggesting that opening forklift licensing to minors might ease the stress on the national supply chain.
"There are other changes that need to be made at a state level and I'm continuing to pursue those with the states," he said at Wednesday's national cabinet meeting.
But amid social media scrutiny and with the clarification that no state government was willing to reduce the minimum age for forklift licensing, Mr Morrison backed down from the idea on Thursday.
"At national cabinet today we agreed to proceed no further with the issue of 16-year-old forklift drivers," he said.
James Cook University professor of public health Richard Franklin said workplace safety legislation was administered at the state and territory level.
"I'm not too sure that with a click of his fingers [the Prime Minister] could change these things without going through the proper processes," he said.
How young is too young?
To operate a forklift legally, Australians must be 18 or older and obtain a licence from their state or territory safety regulator.
The licensing requirements vary, but each is bound by the National Standard for Persons Performing High-Risk Work, which stipulates licensees be "at least 18 years of age".
Theoretically the Commonwealth could amend this standard to reduce the minimum age for licensing, but it would still rest with the states to sign off on the licences.
Workplaces would also need to let their teenage workers into the driver's seat.
"The workplace needs to decide. Part of your responsibility [as an employer] is to take a risk assessment and decide if it's appropriate to [let teenagers] do this job," Dr Franklin said.
"It's more than just driving a forklift — it's working in a complex environment.
But Dr Franklin said some 16-year-olds could operate the machines safely.
"Moving [the licensing age] to 16 is feasible," he said.
"What we've got to realise is we're all different — there are some 16-year-olds you would feel comfortable with and others you wouldn't."
Germany has some of the highest workplace safety standards in the world and offers forklift and tractor licensing at 16 years of age.
In Australia, children operating industrial machinery is not unheard of or even uncommon.
"We have a history in farming of children using machinery," Victorian Farmers Federation senior farm safety adviser John Darcy said.
No easy fix for supply chain stress
Australia's supply chain woes are not solely due to a lack of forklift drivers.
"What we've seen is the on-demand system we have with our supermarkets being interrupted," Dr Franklin said.
"We've got issues not just with forklifts, but with people moving things around on the road, with having the rapid antigen tests so people can say they're negative and get back to work.
"We do have some really good systems in place — making sure we are wearing masks, using split shifts so the whole workplace doesn't go down.
