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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1995 Week 8 Hansard (26 October) . . Page.. 2135 ..
Question put:
That the motion (Ms Tucker's) be agreed to.
The Assembly voted -
AYES, 9 NOES, 8 Mr Berry Mrs Carnell Mr Connolly Mr Cornwell Ms Follett Mr De Domenico Ms Horodny Mr Hird Ms McRae Mr Humphries Mr Osborne Mr Kaine Ms Tucker Mr Moore Mr Whitecross Mr Stefaniak Mr WoodQuestion so resolved in the affirmative, with the concurrence of an absolute majority.
MS TUCKER (4.34): Mr Speaker, I move:
That this Assembly calls on the Government to negotiate an all of government agreement with the ACT public sector (excluding Totalcare Ltd and ACTEW).
Mr Speaker, the Government's industrial relations proposal strikes at the heart of service delivery to the community and the rights of people employed in the ACT public sector. The Government proposes to do away with the current all-of-government system and replace it with one that will create a multitude of agreements and agency-based bargains with minimal award protection. The Government's proposal is twofold. For corporations and trading entities, such as ACTION and ACT Forests, they will create separate enterprise agreements, while for all other agencies, such as the Chief Minister's Department and Education, there will be agency agreements within the context of a framework agreement.
The current all-of-government agreement runs out at the end of this year and if no new deal is struck employees will not receive any pay increases. If employees do what the Government wants them to do they will receive 1.3 per cent, according to the Government's proposal. With the CPI running at 4 per cent and some talk that it may blow out, next year employees in the ACT are facing the possibility of significant wage losses. This may not mean a great deal to the employees in the ACT public sector on executive salaries of up to $200,000, such as the director at Woden Valley Hospital; but it will mean a lot to a single-income two-child family on $26,000 who are currently living below the poverty line. They cannot afford to lose any more, and they will lose should the Government continue to pursue its current industrial relations policy.
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