Page 3329 - Week 13 - Tuesday, 24 November 1992
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INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS
Discussion of Matter of Public Importance
MADAM SPEAKER: I have received letters from Mrs Carnell, Mr Cornwell, Mr De Domenico, Mr Humphries and Mr Kaine proposing that matters of public importance be submitted to the Assembly. In accordance with standing order 79, I have determined that the matter proposed by Mr Humphries be submitted to the Assembly, namely:
The continued neglect by the Follett Labor Government of industrial relations as an essential element of a micro-economic reform agenda.
MR HUMPHRIES (3.31): Madam Speaker, there has been some criticism in the past from those opposite that the Liberal Party does not always raise matters of sufficient gravity for consideration by the Assembly. If there were any such doubts, ill founded though they may be, I think that they are more than adequately answered today by the important matter that we have raised. This is a matter of enormous substance and importance - not just to the citizens of the ACT, but to all citizens of this country who know that without action on the question of micro-economic reform by every government in Australia, and indeed many other organisations and individuals, this country faces a bleak future. Nobody, Madam Speaker, except perhaps the most extreme or most dull in our society, would question the need for a commitment to a vigorous agenda of micro-economic reform in this nation. The changes that have taken place in the world marketplace over the last few years have rendered it imperative that we jettison many of the inefficiencies and outdated practices which we have inherited from our predecessors, especially those which our international competitors have seen fit, years ago in some cases, to abandon.
Eliminating waste and bad work practices was once just the rhetoric of conservatives in this country. Today it is the rhetoric and in many cases the practice of governments of all hues. The question before us today, Madam Speaker, is whether the Government of the Australian Capital Territory matches whatever rhetoric it might put forward about its commitment to a micro-economic reform agenda with action which actually complements that rhetoric. My contention today will be that in fact it does not. Madam Speaker, it is not just a matter of pride that we should be pursuing a more efficient and effective environment for our economy. It is not just a matter of improving procedures to allow companies or organisations to make large profits. It is a matter, quite simply, of survival for our nation and for our nation's future. It is a question of whether our young will have jobs at all, not just under particular circumstances.
I think we should consider the changes which are taking place in our world. Over the last five years a large number of formerly socialist economies have crumbled. Particularly in eastern Europe and in Asia, changes are taking place at an enormously rapid rate. Those necessarily weak, hidebound, inefficient economies which sheltered behind those societies in the past have now been dramatically altered and are in the process of changing very quickly. In place of those economies we now see emerging capitalist economies which are, admittedly, in many cases still very small and very weak but which are growing rapidly and which are almost completely free of even the level of government regulation and restrictions which some in this chamber would argue is necessary.
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