Page 4525 - Week 15 - Tuesday, 14 December 1993
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
One important part of the new contracts is the commitment to arbitration again and again. That is something that the AMA has run away from. If they had not run away from that issue in the first place, we would not be in the spot we are in now.
In relation to comparisons about savings, again the issue of savings in ACTION is one which Mr Connolly will deal with most adequately. There is always argy-bargy about the positions of industrial players, and I do not expect that there will ever be a wages system where there is not argy-bargy and a bit of froth and bubble about the respective positions of the parties. That is occurring now. There is nothing new in it; nothing has changed. Madam Speaker, a new wages system is about to be developed, as far as it can be developed. The parties involved in the negotiations about those issues will have differing points of view until we eventually come to a position. If we do not come to a position there are no pay rises for anybody. That is the basis of this.
We have to work through the framework to ensure that we come up with a position where there are reasonable pay rises, pay rises which are made in the context of the industrial relations framework within which we very happily live. It is a framework that was the subject of a dispute in the last election - an election that Labor won. That is why we have an orderly industrial relations framework - Labor won - and we are going to be working within that framework. The difficulty with the VMOs is that they do not have such a framework. I have set out the framework in the contracts that we have sent to the individual doctors. If they accept the framework which has been set out in those contracts, then we will have an orderly process which will lead us to a solution. We need to avoid chaos and we need an orderly framework. Mr De Domenico, we have two orderly frameworks within which we will work, provided there is goodwill on both sides. I can tell you that from the Government side there is.
MR DE DOMENICO: I ask a supplementary question, Madam Speaker. Minister, having heard all that, I ask whether there is any ideological reason why the Transport Workers Union proposal to save $6.5m per year should not be accepted.
MR BERRY: The first thing you have to understand is the process. Again, you do not seem to understand that. That requires the matter to be argued and managed in the local bargaining centres, and in due course that will occur. As I said to you a little while ago, in all industrial situations there are two positions - one on one side, one on the other; the employers and the workers. There is nothing wrong with that. There has been conflict in the workplace over these matters as far back as anybody can remember because that is the way we achieve change in the Australian industrial relations framework. There is nothing new about it and I expect that it will continue for as far forward as you and I will both live, Mr De Domenico. We have an orderly framework within which there is conflict but also resolution by way of the processes which are in place. There is no question that there will be differences on the way, and this is just one of them.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .