Page 417 - Week 02 - Wednesday, 24 February 1993
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
and, indeed, profits. There is nothing the Liberals hate more than something that can move ahead smoothly, in consultation with unions, and produce results and even profits for business. They hate it. They would rather have the conflict and try to do some workers over. That is the process the Liberals favour.
Madam Speaker, we are faced today with a lightweight piece of legislation which arises as a lightweight stunt in this Assembly. It has to be dispatched quickly because we need to ensure that those people who are interested in improving workplace safety are allowed to continue with their work and not be diverted from that important task by stunts such as this. As I have said, we have committed a lot of energy and resource to the development of that culture about which I talked a moment ago, and we will continue to resource the development of that culture in accordance with the legislation decided upon by this Assembly. We will do it in the interests of everybody in the ACT, even Liberals.
Mr De Domenico: Ha, ha!
MR BERRY: They can laugh and chuckle all they like, but the benefits will flow to some of the people they think they are traditionally supported by. I can say to you that the people you think support you are walking away from you in droves because of this naive and backward attitude. Employers are represented on the Occupational Health and Safety Council here in the ACT. The peak employer groups are represented nationally, and they want this to happen. Employers want this to happen. They want this culture to develop. The national employer organisations - right-wingers like you lot - do not want it to happen because they do not want any progress. They want to go back into their cave and start flogging each other again. I am not into that.
Mr De Domenico: You are not interested in talking to them?
MR BERRY: We are not into flogging each other to death, like you lot. You right-wingers would love to get back into your cave and start taking pot shots at workers. It is not going to happen. We have to continue down this progressive path, and that is why we will continue to resource it.
It is most important, as we move towards 1 July, when this legislation will take effect, that we have in place an arrangement that has been developed jointly, and we are doing that with employers and unions. We are all working on training. We are arranging for training for supervisors. We are assisting where we can to ensure that the culture develops at the best rate possible. If you interfere in the process - this is merely interference; that is what is intended - it disturbs the pace of change and the pace of improvement. You do not care; that is quite obvious.
Mr Humphries: On a point of order, Madam Speaker: We have truncated this debate to just over 30 minutes on the in-principle stage. The Minister obviously proposes to take the full 20 minutes to which he is entitled. He leaves other speakers almost no time to contribute to this debate. Could I ask him, through you, to keep his remarks short, to allow other contributions to this debate.
MADAM SPEAKER: I would be very loath to set a precedent where I cut in on any member's speaking time, Mr Humphries. I take your point, but I am sure that you would not like me to exercise that authority over you.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .