Page 2017 - Week 10 - Tuesday, 24 October 1989
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One of the things that has always worried me in many fields that I have worked in is the fact that we have taken it for granted that people who come from other parts of the world know how things work, and we do not take care of them in the workplace. My fear is that in this Bill we may forget this fact. Although Canberra does not have a lot of heavy industry, such as the rubber and car industries, we still have a lot of people working in industry whose first language is not English, and we have to look after them.
I worry about the fact that we have not taken care of these people. I have talked about this in relation to the Southern Cross Club. People say to you, "Oh, it doesn't matter if a person who is serving in a club or a bar doesn't speak English well". I own two hotels and it is quite amazing how much damage can be done in the cellar of a hotel by a person who does not understand what he or she is doing. One of the things that I learnt was never to stand over a keg when you are trying to stem it, because if you do not hold it the stem can go straight through the keg, through your head and out the other side. I can tell you, it leaves an awful gash.
Mr Collaery: How many times did that happen?
MRS GRASSBY: Many times, Mr Collaery. Can't you see all the holes? But, Mr Collaery, believe you me, I do not have as many as you have!
People take it for granted that you do not need to know too much English if you are working in a hotel or club cellar; that it does not matter; that everybody can understand the things that matter. But they do not, and this is the sort of issue we should be thinking about in the workplace. We have one industry here in Canberra in which the great percentage of the women who work in it come from Eastern Europe. That is the laundry industry. An enormous amount of damage can be done in that industry to people who are handling machinery they do not understand.
Mr Humphries: Not to mention the clothes.
MRS GRASSBY: Yes, we all know that; put a canary in a washing machine and we know what happens.
Mrs Nolan: It comes out yellow.
Mr Humphries: Is that where you wash your clothes, Ellnor?
MRS GRASSBY: Yes. That is why they all come out yellow. Aren't they lovely?
Although this Bill went to a committee, and I think the committee did a wonderful job, I am not sure that the members saw the same things in the legislation as we had seen in the workplace. The committee spoke to employers and to the Trades and Labour Council. That was wonderful
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