Page 5119 - Week 16 - Wednesday, 27 November 1991
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
I think it is unfortunate that we heard nothing - no thing, no single reason - from any member of the Labor Party, least of all Mr Connolly. When he got to his feet I thought, "He is going to give a reason why people in Canberra should be forced - compelled - to join a union or have no right to work in many cases". Is that not what it comes down to - if you do not join a union, you do not have a right to work?
Mr Connolly suggests that, if the Assembly passed such an amendment, things would happen that we would not approve of. As I said, he is talking about industrial action. Who would suggest that we in this Assembly should be concerned about industrial action when we decide what is right and what is wrong? Would unions take it into their hands to break the law because this Assembly chose to give people an undeniable right to work when they choose and to not work when they choose, and to join an organisation when they choose or to not join an organisation?
The real key here is that, while we have a Labor Party that suggests that it is for the workers, the truth of the matter is that they support people having the right to work only if they agree with Labor Party policies and union policies. You have no right unless it is conferred upon you by the Labor Party. Yet Labor members stand here today and suggest to us that this Bill, introduced by Mr Collaery initially and then by the Labor Party, is about giving people rights, and they absolutely refuse again and again to give us one valid reason why people in Canberra should be forced to join a union when they do not choose to do so.
MR DUBY (5.29): Mr Temporary Deputy Speaker, the amendment that has been moved by Mr Stefaniak is a very important amendment. Of that there is no doubt. Indeed, I can well understand the motives behind the moving of that amendment, and some of those motives, I think, were mentioned by Mr Stevenson. There is no doubt that in Australian society today there are many examples of people being discriminated against because they are not members of a union. There are examples of it. It is as simple as that.
Mr Wood: Because they are.
MR DUBY: Because they are not members of a union.
Mr Berry: And they get advantages from unions when they are not members, too - as a result of union action.
MR DUBY: They may well do that, Mr Berry; but I can certainly think of a number of occasions when people have been discriminated against because of non-membership of a particular organisation of employees, to use the phrase that Mr Stefaniak has used in his amendment. Indeed, I also know of occasions when people have been discriminated against because of membership of an organisation of employers. That has occurred in this Territory in recent times.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .