Page 779 - Week 03 - Wednesday, 24 March 1993
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Mr De Domenico moaned and groaned about the termination clause in the ACT. We know that, as a result of our efforts in the ACT, workers compensation premiums are falling rapidly. You need a lesson in these things. You should not avoid the truth. Premiums dropped from 4.09 per cent in 1987-88 to 1.98 per cent last financial year. How dare you groan about the way we manage workers compensation in the ACT. Mr De Domenico went on to talk about the tourism industry and how the occupational health and safety legislation had such a massive impact on it. Can I tell you that the tourism industry's average rate now is less than half the recommended rate, and it is falling?
Mr De Domenico: What rate is that?
MR BERRY: The recommended rate of premium.
Mr De Domenico: For workers compensation?
MR BERRY: Indeed. Mr De Domenico knows and understands that the occupational health and safety legislation that was put in place by Labor in 1989 has been very successful.
Mr De Domenico: Have you spoken to the private sector about that?
MR BERRY: You do not have to; the figures speak for themselves. Things are better in the ACT when it comes to occupational health and safety because of Labor, and they will continue to improve. He groans about us dragging ourselves to other standards which are set in tory States such as New South Wales. I understand that they are undermining their occupational health and safety legislation in that State. We are not going to undermine it. Yes, there ought to be equivalent standards all round the country, but we are not lowering ourselves. If we are ahead of anybody, we are going to stay ahead, and that is quite appropriate. Why adopt the lowest common denominator and be like the Liberals, a miserable lot, sitting where they deserve - in opposition both in the ACT and federally.
Mr Kaine: We are just recharging our batteries, Minister.
MR BERRY: It is going to take a long time. I reckon that you have her on slow trickle charge, because it is going to be a long time before you come back. The old 12-volt battery is down to about 0.5 at the moment. The long awaited day is a long way off.
Interstate Ministers understand where Labor is coming from in the ACT when it comes to industrial relations. We have not shrunk from our commitment to the Federal Industrial Relations Act, as it stands. We know that it will continue to apply in the Territory. We know that the Commonwealth will consult with us, as they do with other States, because that industrial relations law has broad effect in other States as well. It is not something that applies just in the Territory. Consultation will continue about how industrial relations develops here in the Territory.
We are confident that we are in for a period of stability because of the election of the Keating Government. We strenuously opposed the election of a Hewson government because we knew that there would have been deep divisions in the ACT, divisions which would have made it more difficult to provide a stable
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