Page 3454 - Week 12 - Wednesday, 19 September 1990
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of care that Mr Stefaniak relies upon failed to do it. The trade unions had to use industrial muscle, regrettably, to provide that protection. That is why, or is one of the reasons why, the unions were more interested in having involvement of workers in the workplace in the provision of protection of themselves rather than having to use their valuable resources to do what essentially was the boss's job. That is what it boils down to.
Now, you might not like that; you might not like those facts and you might not like having it wheeled up to you at every opportunity. The fact of the matter is that that is the history of workplace safety in Australia and we have to live with it jointly. But what the Labor Party will not live with is a slack government that is not prepared to provide the best available for people in the Territory. We have a government that is still feeding off the fear of unions that I spoke about earlier. They cannot continue to do it while workers are being killed and injured in the workplace. They have to do something about it. This Bill set out to achieve something in that respect.
The Liberal Government, A, B and C teams, of course, will prevent that from happening, but that message will be passed on to the trade union movement. Those historic divisions between labour and the conservatives in this country will persist because of the inaction of this Government. This Government is a government that depends on adversarial principles existing in the workplaces. They try to feed off it. What we are setting out to do is to ensure that occupational health and safety is provided in the workplace as soon as is possible. Mr Speaker, I commend the Bill to the house and I will note with interest those members who vote against it.
MR STEFANIAK: Mr Speaker, I claim to have been misrepresented.
MR SPEAKER: Please proceed.
MR STEFANIAK: Very quickly, Mr Speaker, because I do not want to delay us. Mr Berry referred to forcing workers back onto the duty of care. That has nothing to do with the designated work group because there are other provisions in the Act, Mr Berry, which I mentioned, which cover all industry - - -
Mr Berry: He is debating the issue, Mr Speaker.
MR STEFANIAK: - - - regardless of how many workers there are.
MR SPEAKER: Order! Mr Berry, resume your seat.
Question put.
That this Bill be agreed to in principle.
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