Page 3714 - Week 14 - Wednesday, 9 December 1992
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Freedom of Information Fees
MR STEVENSON: My question is to Mr Connolly and concerns freedom of information. What is the estimated or actual cost of collecting FOI fees for each of the completed yearly periods since commencement of the Act? How do these amounts compare to the fees collected?
Mr Moore: If you had been there for estimates you could have got this.
MR CONNOLLY: Mr Moore assists me by interjecting that if Mr Stevenson had attended the Estimates Committee he probably could have got that information. I will take the question on notice and give him a full answer.
Industrial Relations
MRS GRASSBY: My question is to the Minister for Industrial Relations. Will the Government continue to oppose changes to our industrial relations system such as those imposed in Victoria?
MR BERRY: I thank the member for the question. Madam Speaker, I think it needs to be drawn to members' attention that a recent ANOP poll demonstrated that the general public support our present Federal industrial relations system. The poll asked: Would you prefer the Hewson-Howard Jobsback policy or would you prefer to retain the present system? The results give a clear indication to the Liberals that they should be running scared about their "jobsack" policy. Madam Speaker, 58 per cent stated that they prefer the present system; only 34 per cent prefer "jobsack". The Liberals are running scared.
Mr Kaine: Did you ask the million unemployed, or did you skip them?
MR BERRY: Do you support all of Hewson's package? Even Dr Hewson is running away from it. The Liberals intend throwing out more than half a century of developments that have established a modern and just method of industrial arbitration and wage setting in Australia, and one which is the envy of many countries throughout the world. Millions and millions of workers around the world envy the wages system in Australia. We do not want a system such as that which exists in the United States, or perhaps even in the Philippines, where people, if they are lucky enough, can negotiate minimum wages and extra conditions. That is the sort of thing the Liberals will impose on us.
It is clear that the majority of Australians have seen through what I describe as the "frightpack". It certainly sent Dr Hewson scurrying. He is frightened, because now he is going to change it. He is going to change the package which was formerly supported unequivocally by the Liberals opposite. Which parts of the package do you want to keep and which parts do you want to throw out? You tell us about that. The same sort of response can be expected by the Liberals in relation to the recent ANOP poll. What it boils down to, and this has been made clear through all the debate on this issue, is that you either take a cut or lose your job. If you combine that with the goods and services tax, the Liberals' policies mean higher prices and lower wages and less power to negotiate on wages and working conditions.
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