Page 1986 - Week 10 - Tuesday, 24 October 1989
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
health and safety system. The industrial relations arena will be their only recourse and industrial action their only means of ensuring appropriate employer attention to their problems, and this is the very activity this Bill is endeavouring to make unnecessary. Trade unions have a legitimate role in representing and, in many cases, informing their members. Not to recognise this is to invite disputes, not avoid them.
The next proposal - to increase the minimum number in a designated work group from 11 to 12 - is simply a nonsense. It has no obvious statistical or industrial basis. I just cannot understand it. As it is, a minimum of 11 exempts some 85 per cent of employers from the requirement to form designated work groups. Also, current statistical collections which are based on divisions of 10 will become useless.
Mr Kaine: The Roman system is long outdated.
MR WHALAN: We introduced decimal currency and the whole decimal system in 1966 when you and I were both 21. So there is simply no logical basis for the proposal and little result, except to make statistical comparisons with other States much more complicated.
Finally, as I previously mentioned, to remove the requirement for an employer to make instructions and information available to employees in appropriate languages would take from the legislation the only recognition it has that for a significant proportion of the work force English is not the first language.
There are establishments in this city, Mr Speaker, at which English is not the predominant language in the workplace. If an employer employs workers who speak other than English, the employer has a duty of care to those employees to ensure that, as far as it is necessary to use equipment safely, there be instructions given that they can understand. The proposal in the Bill sought only to clarify that responsibility, and for that reason the Government would still have preferred to see its continued inclusion.
The Government believes this is important and long overdue legislation, and supports its quick passage through this Assembly. However, the Government believes that the two proposals of the select committee which remove any requirement to consult involved unions and seek to increase the minimum size of a designated work group would severely and unnecessarily restrict the effectiveness of the legislation and invite unwanted conflict. The Government therefore opposes those particular amendments.
In concluding, Mr Speaker, I would like to say that I acknowledge the work that was done by members of the committee and their interest in this matter, which I think is a genuine interest although it might come from a
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .