Page 1329 - Week 05 - Wednesday, 12 May 1993
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Mrs Carnell: And efficiency.
MR DE DOMENICO: And efficiency. The Bill goes a lot further than just preventing people from having to join trade unions. It also says that, if you do not want to join an employer organisation, under this legislation you do not have to do that either. We are giving everybody a choice - employees in all industries. As Mr Humphries said quite correctly, currently 55 per cent of the community do not want to be members of a union. What are you going to do? If we take your logic to the extreme, why do you not try to introduce into this Assembly a Bill which says that everybody who works in Canberra must be a member of a union? Do that, if we are going to follow your logic, because 55 per cent of workers in the ACT are not members of unions.
Mr Berry: You would not be able to follow logic, Tony. The jingle of the knives in your pocket would confuse you.
MR DE DOMENICO: I am glad that Mr Berry said that. Mr Berry said earlier that this piece of legislation is futile because it is going to affect only local awards, and there is no discrimination at all in the ACT because this is fairyland, it is a beauty. Let us look at what Mr Berry has had to say about compulsory unionism. In answer to a question I asked during consideration of the estimates, he said that the Fire Brigade Employees ACT Award 1975 contained preference of employment for union members. In other words, Mr Berry, before you can join the ACT Fire Brigade, regardless of whether you want to join a union or not, you have to. Do you think that is fair? Do you think you should have to be a member of a union before you can join the ACT Fire Brigade? We do not think it is fair, and we believe that Mr Moore's Bill, if this Assembly decides to agree with it, will change that; and so it should be changed, because it gives people choice. It does not ban the union at all; it just gives people choice.
Let us have a look at the ACT Government's Jobskills award of 1992. It has preference of employment and preference in retention of employment. Unless you are a member of a union, you are not given preference for Jobskills. That is absolutely ridiculous. Mr Berry, as I said before, 55 per cent of the people of the ACT who work have already decided that they do not wish to be members of the union. We are saying: So be it, if that is the people's choice. Give people choice, whether it is to join a union or to join an employer organisation.
Mr Berry and Mr Lamont ought also to realise that this Bill is not about dealing with industrial relations matters. It is about dealing with a discrimination matter. This Government from time to time waxes lyrical about its concern about things such as discrimination. If you are really concerned, Mr Berry, support this amendment. It is all about preventing discrimination, not just in trade unions but in employer organisations as well. Mr Berry went on to say that, although it was futile in reality and all powerful, it was naive and unnecessary, that once it is out of the box you cannot get it back in, and all that sort of rhetorical garbage.
Another point of interest is the recent ACTEW dispute, and Mr Humphries referred to this. The dispute was a quite simple situation. A trade union, on behalf of its members, negotiated with the employer about certain awards and structures. The employer said that it agreed to that, and they came to an agreement. Mr Connolly, who is not here, said, "That is fair enough", and signed off the award. That is exactly what enterprise bargaining is all about.
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