Page 1089 - Week 04 - Thursday, 1 April 1993
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But the fact is that we have a Minister who, under section 37, I believe, of a particular Act that he is responsible for, quite rightly signs off this agreement because it is going to save the taxpayer $500,000. Mr Connolly cannot deny that. He will attempt to deny that, but ACTEW believes that it will save $500,000, the union believes that it will save $500,000, and had Mr Connolly not believed that himself he would not have signed the agreement. It makes me think that either Mr Connolly was not aware of the other 15 unions and what discussions had taken place when Mr Berry signed things off, or perhaps he disagreed with that because, being the good Minister that he is from time to time, he agreed that to save the taxpayer $500,000 was a good thing. So one wonders what the problem is.
The other thing is that people who watched television last night saw the farcical situation where the electrical trade union people were wanting to see the Chief Minister. I think their demand was believable. They wanted to prevent any further industrial action on the people of the ACT. We had one of the Minister's apparatchiks, I think it was a Mr Wedgwood, a failed ALP candidate in the last election, saying, "Listen, if you want to see the Chief Minister, get the cameras out and put your request in writing", for heaven's sake. I recall when there was another government in power in the ACT and there was a Minister called Mr Duby, I think, and he from time to time found it difficult to negotiate with the trade union movement. I recall that Mr Kaine, the then Chief Minister, was quite pleased to entertain a delegation from the Trades and Labour Council and after that things were settled. But what does this Chief Minister do? She refuses to see a delegation from the unions.
I am not one, as people realise, who defends unions, but this time we have to be sensible. Here is a situation where the union, the employer and the Government believe that they are going to save the ACT taxpayers an amount of money and everybody wins, and what does the left-wing faction of this Government do? It chops Mr Connolly off at the knees, again; and who pays for all this? The poor old people outside, the people of the ACT, who are being used as political footballs while these people opposite play their party political games. I have talked about the $500,000; but, interestingly, I am not the only one who believes that what has happened has happened. Mr Berry's comments in the Canberra Times of today also bear commenting on, Mr Deputy Speaker. Mr Berry said:
The union has to separate their party politics from their industrial relations or they will get themselves into a real mess.
For Mr Berry to comment in those terms is absolutely profound. I will repeat what Mr Berry said, because it bears repeating:
The union has to separate their party politics from their industrial relations or they will get themselves into a real mess.
I am suggesting, Mr Berry, that two people have got themselves into a real mess. The first is Mr Connolly. I expect Mr Connolly one day to come in and be about the same height as I am because, once again, he has been chopped off at the knees. The other one who is in a real mess is Mr Berry. Mr Berry is as popular as Yasser Arafat in a synagogue, let me tell you. No-one wants to talk to Mr Berry.
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