Page 778 - Week 03 - Wednesday, 24 March 1993
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suggests we should be looking to for increasing employment - the tourism, travel and hospitality industry and the service industries, which employ most young people in this Territory. You made it more difficult for them to increase their job creating possibilities. In these situations, Ministers are given an opportunity of saying exactly what they are doing in the various jurisdictions they represent.
A lot has been said, and it will continue to be said, I suppose, about how we Liberals on this side of the house are kicking workers out onto the streets, kicking them in the head, that we are all redneck whatevers. Interestingly, what Mr Berry did not say was that the industrial relations policy of the ACT division of the Liberal Party was one of those areas where we - - -
Mr Lamont: A bit of distance now.
MR DE DOMENICO: No. We did not hear the Trades and Labour Council criticised, for example. I recall a radio program when Mr Abraham, I think, had Mr Snow from the Canberra Business Council and Mr McDonald debating the ACT Liberal Party's industrial relations policy. Ironically, Mr McDonald said, "There is some of it in there that I dislike, but some of it I must admit is pretty good. It is nothing like the Victorian one. It is similar to Jobsback, but it is really quite a good policy".
Unlike Mr Berry and the Government, what the Liberal Party does and will continue to do when it changes its policies, as it will from time to time, is consult widely. That industrial relations policy went through a wide consultative process. We consulted with the unions, we consulted with the business sector, we consulted with all sorts of people, and we came up with a policy which was largely accepted by all people in the community. Mr Berry does not go to these conferences and say those sorts of things. By comparison, we have yet to see what Mr Berry's industrial relations policy is. He is lucky, in a sense, that he does not have to have one now. Most of it will be under Federal awards and he will be directed by the Federal award system as to what happens in the ACT.
In summary, what I am saying is that Mr Berry did not take the opportunity to alert the other Ministers to the outstanding things he was doing in terms of industrial relations in the ACT. He did not do that because, as always, Mr Berry and the Government say a lot of things but do nothing.
MR BERRY (Minister for Health, Minister for Industrial Relations and Minister for Sport) (4.44), in reply: Mr De Domenico referred to the humdinger of a statement I made, and this is the humdinger, not the one he described. The Liberals in the ACT squirm when Kennett is mentioned. It is their downfall. They are still beating the same old drum. The Labor Party's view of industrial relations is one of the issues that set us well apart, and our support base in the community is strong because of our commitment to industrial justice.
We have taken the approach of endorsing ILO conventions because of our commitment to the International Labour Organisation and to those important undertakings that have been given by governments around this country. When we implemented the parental leave Bill, the first person to scream was Mr De Domenico, because he did not want to see those sorts of conditions provided in the ACT. They are in accord with the International Labour Organisation's conventions, and it is appropriate that they should apply in the Territory.
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