Page 813 - Week 03 - Wednesday, 13 March 1991
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
council advises the Government on all matters relating to industrial relations in the Territory. We have also implemented occupational health and safety legislation and established a tripartite Occupational Health and Safety Council. Again, it is an important device to defuse potential problems in this area. It has been supported by the establishment of a registrar's office within the Chief Minister's Department, which looks over or administers legislation and advises on those matters. The Vocational Training Authority is another tripartite body, bringing unions, government and employers together in the ACT and facilitating input from employers and the other parties - unions and government.
There is, what is more, the tripartite Workers Compensation Advisory Committee, again established by the ACT Alliance Government. All parties have worked together through this forum to achieve a reduction in the Insurance Council's recommended rates, and the committee is to undertake an overall review of the current scheme. These are only some examples of a number of joint management and union consultative forums which have been established at agency level in the ACT, and these are underpinned by consultative mechanisms at the workplace level within agencies. In the absence of Commonwealth legislation, the Alliance Government is finalising an occupational health and safety agreement with the ACT Trades and Labour Council covering ACT Government Service employees.
I want to say something, Mr Speaker, about the consultative processes that have been put in place during this Government's term of office. I have mentioned some of those forums in the last few minutes, and I emphasise that they are only examples of a whole series of devices - established not just at the top, as it were, of the pyramid, but also down the industrial pyramid - which have resulted in considerable cohesion amongst the working groups within our community. It is the case that in the health area, in particular, a great deal of controversy and confusion has been avoided by discussions at that level.
I have been insistent, as Minister for Health, that close working relationships be established with the unions in the area. I frequently meet with those unions to discuss problems in the areas of health and education. I have regular meetings with the nurses federation and with the Teachers Federation. I met with the HEF when it was a force in the Territory. I have discussed things as required with bodies like the Professional Officers Association, and any other body within the ACT administration work force which represents workers with whom we as the Government ought to deal.
So, Mr Speaker, it really falls to the point of asking: What is it exactly that constitutes the disastrous industrial relations record of this Government? Just where are the facts? Where are the sticks and stones that are supposed to knock our record of being good managers to the
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .