Page 2849 - Week 11 - Wednesday, 21 October 1992
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think that Mr Berry has done anything about that? The answer is no. Once again we have the flat fingers syndrome. He sits on his hands and does nothing. Whether Mr Berry and the Government like it, Madam Speaker, or whether they do not, once the Howard-Hewson Government is elected they will have to do something about it.
Mr Connolly: The Howard-Hewson Government? A bit of a change in leadership coming up?
MR DE DOMENICO: Seeing that we are talking about industrial relations, Mr Connolly - - -
Mr Kaine: We are not talking about the Follett-Mr X Government.
MR DE DOMENICO: That is right. Mr Berry will have to do something about it. If he is not going to do something about it, the Federal Government will certainly do something about it for him. That is the problem of industrial relations in this Territory, Madam Speaker. Mr Berry stands up and talks about positives, and he also talks about kiddies and things like that. If by "kiddies" he means people between the ages of 15 and 19, let me tell you another fact. In the ACT, of young people between 15 and 19 years, 56 per cent are unemployed. Australia-wide, under accord mark 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7, and how many others there are - you had better listen to this - there are one million people earning less on the dole than they would be earning if they were in a job.
That is what industrial relations is all about. That is what reform is all about. Sure, some of this reform is radical, and so it should be, because it has taken the Labor Government three years to catch up on what John Howard had to say three or four years ago about enterprise bargaining. It will take you another three or four years to catch up to the fact that you need radical reform, and radical reform needs guts. You have not got it. What happened to the only Minister who has any guts? He walked into a Labor Party meeting and got bucketed like a beauty. Talk about unity, Madam Speaker. What did the Industrial Relations Minister do? Did he support Mr Connolly? No, he did not. He stood up like he did today and he walked out. You are not allowed to walk out on the people of the ACT; you had better start doing something.
MR CONNOLLY (Attorney-General, Minister for Housing and Community Services and Minister for Urban Services) (3.52): Madam Speaker, the subject of today's MPI, industrial relations, is indeed a matter of great public importance. The debate from opposition speakers has focused on two aspects: Firstly, a litany of alleged failures on the part of this Government in managing ACT industrial relations, and, secondly, a recapping of the Federal Opposition's so-called bold, radical strategy; this enormous leap to the past that was announced yesterday by Mr Howard. Mr Howard said at the end of the day yesterday:
If you are under a workplace agreement -
which is what he wants - no unions, no awards -
and you have a deadlock about conditions, then it does become a matter of negotiation. If you can't reach agreement, well, you do go your separate ways.
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