Page 4431 - Week 14 - Thursday, 9 December 1993
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operates at the cost of cutting short the working lives of those who wish to continue irrespective of their particular needs or abilities. It also deprives the community of access to the skills that these people have developed throughout their working lives.
Some employers have reacted cautiously to this proposal, although there were many in the community who were very interested in the idea of more flexible retirement ages. These employers were concerned that the legislation could lead to management difficulties that would be expensive to resolve and, in particular, focused on the question of what to do with the older worker who is no longer effective. Although it is clear that this legislation will require greater management of retirement, we see similar legislation affecting age based retirement operating in New South Wales and, over the next two years, commencing in three other States. This delayed commencement, in addition to an exception for age discrimination that can be justified for health and safety reasons, should provide employers with adequate flexibility to make special provision for older workers where that is necessary, as well as sufficient time to assess their personnel practices before this part of the legislation comes into force.
Some occupations rely on a very high standard of professional practice to ensure that safety standards are maintained. While the Bill provides employers with some leeway where there are risk factors that might be associated with age, some submissions raised the question of whether there are occupations that should be dealt with differently. If employers believe that they are faced with peculiar difficulties, the Discrimination Act does provide for a further three-year exemption if it can be justified to the Discrimination Commissioner. The Discrimination Commissioner is required to weigh these requests against the need to promote acceptance of the legislation, and I would not envisage that exemptions would be given lightly. However, this does add further flexibility to provide for extreme cases where compliance is not possible within the two-year delay that is already provided.
Empirical evidence on retirement ages from North America suggests that a prohibition on enforced retirement will barely affect the current trend to earlier retirements. If this is also true in the ACT, the reforms introduced by this Bill still represent a fundamental change for older workers in providing a greater degree of choice in the timing of their retirement. It also reflects the recognition that, as the community ages, it becomes imperative to consider more flexible retirement practices, not only to allow people to engage in more meaningful activity to remain healthier, but also to maintain a skilled working population.
The Discrimination Act does not deal simply with complaints. It has a broader charter to inform and educate the community, and to try to break through the barriers that the use of stereotypes can impose. I hope that the legislation will help address some of the attitudes that immediately link age with incapacity, as well as some of the issues surrounding the immense difficulties faced by unemployed, middle-aged workers who are attempting to rejoin the work force. Madam Speaker, the two-year delayed commencement of the retirement provisions will apply to employers outside the Commonwealth Government sector. Within this period we can expect the commencement of a separate ACT public service, and we will be looking at this issue in that context.
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