Page 556 - Week 03 - Tuesday, 19 May 1992
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ask, Madam Speaker, is: Why only the Fire Brigade? There are Bills here that relate to the National Exhibition Centre and the ACT Electricity and Water Authority. I am sure we have all seen the excellent television advertising by the ACT Electricity and Water Authority in recent weeks. It was probably one of the best ads that I have seen on television for years. It shows the whole range of activities carried on by the authority. Some of those activities are very physical. I would submit that they are probably just as physical as some of the things that you might ask a fireman to do. But there is no prescription by the Electricity and Water Authority that redefines "discrimination" in the same sense.
Why is there the difference? I do not know what employees of the National Exhibition Centre Trust might do, but I can imagine that some of it would be quite physically difficult work; yet there is no special prescription for them. So, we have this unusual prescription that relates to only the Fire Brigade. It is not explained. Indeed, when Mr Connolly tabled all these Bills - I refer to Hansard of 9 April 1992, at pages 140 and 141 - he did not even note the different prescription for the Fire Brigade. He did not think it was worth mentioning.
I do not know what it means; it has not been justified. I think I have indicated that in my view there is really no difference between some of these organisations to which these Bills relate, in relation to the work prescription, in the kinds of things that can be required of employees. Therefore, why is there this special prescription for only the Fire Brigade? One can conclude only that a particular influence has been exerted on the Government in connection with the Fire Brigade and that the other organisations did not have a similar union to heavy the Government, so they miss out. Provided that the Fire Brigade writes a special EEO program and makes special prescriptions in there, if you read this correctly, that makes it okay. If the Fire Brigade can write its own EEO program and write out certain people, which is then considered to be justified discrimination, why cannot the other organisations do the same thing? I think Mr Connolly has some explaining to do.
Mr De Domenico: He can ask now.
MR KAINE: Whom is he going to ask? He is going to dash off and get some special advice from his staffers now. It is like it is at the Special Premiers Conference: You catch them on the hop and they do not know what to do next. They go and ask their staff, "What do I do now?".
Mr Connolly: Good staff work is very important, as you are about to learn.
MR KAINE: I hope that you get better advice from your staff than the Chief Minister got in connection with the Premiers Conference the other day; that is all I can say. I have been somewhat political in what I have said, but it really is not a political issue. There is a genuine question as to why the Fire Brigade is any different from some of these other organisations. Unless the Minister can explain what the difference is, I am not inclined to accept this unusual and special prescription in the Bill that relates to the Fire Brigade. Perhaps I will be persuaded by the Minister's explanation, but I will wait and see what he has to say in the continuing debate in principle on these Bills before I determine whether or not I will accept the Bill in the detail stage.
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