Page 3577 - Week 14 - Tuesday, 8 December 1992
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As an outcome of that review, I have agreed that an annual grant of $20,000 be made to allow the school to have a deputy principal on each campus. That was one of the problems at the time, with the principal having to be on one campus at any time and sometimes no clear demarcation as to who was responsible for the school where she was not present. So, we have made that contribution to them. As well, because of the circumstances of the community, we have indicated that, up to a level of $5,000, we will subsidise funds raised by the P and C Association for the library and we will subsidise items of equipment up to $5,000.
There was quite a deal of comment at the time about the condition of the buildings. They are fairly old, certainly by Canberra standards, and we have been maintaining those. We have continued the usual maintenance program. We have done a couple of bits of extra work there, and the buildings, I believe, remain in generally good condition, though further painting and refurbishment would always be useful.
Government Service - Enterprise Agreements
MR DE DOMENICO: Madam Speaker, my question without notice is to the Industrial Relations Minister. I refer the Minister to the ratification last Friday by the Industrial Relations Commission of enterprise bargaining for the public service and also to remarks made by Mr Mike Costello, the Secretary to the Department of Industrial Relations, who repeated a warning he gave a few months ago that no policy departments would be exempt from the process. Does the Minister support such enterprise agreements and will they form the basis of employment conditions for a future ACT government service?
MR BERRY: You have to consider our approach to enterprise bargaining against that which is being undertaken in other places. If you want to reduce the power of workers in individual enterprises, where they have to compete with employers in a rather stronger position, do not look to the ACT for something that you could follow, because we are not into that sort of approach. We believe in the strength of the trade union movement to represent their members.
I will just go through the position as it now stands in relation to the ACT. It was indicated by the Chief Minister recently that the ACT agreement with unions mirrors that which the Commonwealth has recently concluded with its staff. It is a very comprehensive arrangement, and the final draft was submitted to the Industrial Relations Commission last week at the same time as the Commonwealth agreement. The Chief Minister has been advised that some minor aspects - necessary signatures, union statutory declarations and those sorts of things - are still being gathered together, but the final Industrial Relations Commission processes are likely to take place over the next few days, with the ACT agreement then coming into effect at the same time as the Commonwealth agreement. That is programmed to occur as from the payday of 17 December 1992.
The agreement will last for two years from the time of its endorsement by the Industrial Relations Commission. It is a closed agreement, which means that staff covered by the agreement will not be able to lodge any other claims or receive any national wage increases that might be granted during the time. The only pay increases staff will receive over the period until the end of 1994 will be those
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