Page 816 - Week 03 - Wednesday, 13 March 1991
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through an array of consultative forums, the focus of which is the establishment of an effective partnership within the ACT public sector itself.
The Public Sector Management Board is at the top, and on that board there are representatives from the private sector and the unions. It provides a focus for enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of the Territory's administration right at the top level. We have established a joint council, and this also has the support and involvement of the unions through the ACT Trades and Labour Council. Within each government agency, joint union and management consultative committees provide a forum for cooperative efforts to address workplace issues, and provide a regular medium of communication.
Similarly, employee representatives play an active role in equal employment opportunity committees right throughout the service. We have created a network through which we work with the trade unions at every level of government, and the existence and effectiveness of this multitude of forums is hardly a sign of a government which is unaware of its industrial relations obligations or of the most productive means to engender a cooperative working arrangement.
I repeat that the Labor Opposition would love to see us in confrontation with the unions, but the Government is not working that way and it has not worked that way. We have a situation of peace and cooperation between us and the unions which, in my view, is unprecedented in ACT history. Certainly, it was not in evidence when the Labor Opposition had government. I believe that the unions seek the reality of a government that takes its responsibilities, both as an employer and as a government, seriously, and one which is willing and able to set in place the mechanisms and atmosphere for sound employee relationships, and through that an industrial relations climate that is conducive to getting on with the Government's business.
It would be foolish to say that there have not been specific issues on which the Government and the union movement have had differences in terms of perspective. Of course, we have. This is hardly surprising, considering the important structural transitions necessary if the ACT is to meet the demands of the coming years. But here, too, we are able to put in place arrangements which work to resolve differences as they emerge, and we do that regularly.
For example, the Government's program of micro-economic reform involves the corporatisation of a number of ACT bodies, and we have been meticulous in our approach to these issues to ensure that trade union concerns are taken into account. Close consultation took place on the principles underlying the corporatisation legislation passed by the Assembly last year and, as we move towards the implementation phase of the Government's policy, further consultations are taking place regularly.
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