Page 815 - Week 03 - Wednesday, 13 March 1991
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
Since December 1989 the Alliance has committed itself to working in consultation with the trade unions across a range of fronts and through a great number of individual forums, in order to bring about an harmonious climate in which both the public and private sectors can pursue their objectives in a cooperative way. We do not believe in confrontation. Let me dwell on some of the forums for a moment. Mr Humphries has mentioned one or two of them. We have the Industrial Relations Advisory Council, with representatives of the trade union movement and employer groups, where we work together at a peak level to deal with a range of industrial relations issues of general relevance to the Territory, not just to the ACT Government. Through its tripartite composition, IRAC is a forum which not only allows the Government to engage in fruitful discussion with the unions, but also encourages a similar exchange between the unions and private sector employers. It is a very effective forum, and the unions find it to be so.
There are other highly effective tripartite forums which the Alliance Government has committed itself to in order to promote, among other things, a cooperative industrial climate. The Occupational Health and Safety Council which also, incidentally, met last week, as did IRAC, is proving to be a valuable and productive forum. The creation of safe and healthy work environments is a priority for this Government, and it forms a significant dimension of its relationships with the trade unions. In this regard a registrar's office has been established within my department to administer and advise on the Occupational Health and Safety Act.
The Vocational Training Authority is another tripartite body which facilitates participation by employers, the unions and the Government on training strategies for the Territory - a matter on which a great deal of emphasis has been placed in recent years by the trade unions and one in which we are working cooperatively with them. There is a tripartite Workers Compensation Advisory Committee that this Government has established. All of the 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 workers compensation scheme. To this I should add, Mr Speaker, that within the ACT Government Service itself a great deal of work has been carried out towards the establishment of occupational health and safety agreements between the Trades and Labour Council and each department of the ACT Government Service.
I believe that this again demonstrates our willingness and our success - the success which the Opposition is in an absolute tizz about - in working quietly but effectively with the unions to provide not only a good working environment for employees but also a generally harmonious employee relations climate. The Alliance Government has also committed itself to working with the union movement
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .