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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1996 Week 2 Hansard (29 February) . . Page.. 499 ..

MS FOLLETT: Mrs Carnell finds that hard to cope with. She has lost five to nil in the Industrial Relations Commission, and she deserved to. I believe that it is just an act of further provocation for Mrs Carnell to come into this place and make those kinds of allegations. I do not believe for one minute that this Chief Minister has any intention of seeking a resolution of this industrial dispute, otherwise we would see a conciliatory approach from her. All we have seen is insults thrown around, mostly at people who cannot defend themselves, and a total denial of the democratic rights of her own workers. I think it is a disgrace.

MR MOORE (3.21): Mr Speaker, it is very interesting for me to listen to this. Early the other morning on the radio I heard one of the union leaders pointing out that the pickets had been completely peaceful and with no intimidation at all. With reference to the vast majority of people on those pickets, that certainly is the case. They have been polite, friendly, carrying out their peaceful protests in the way they should. Unfortunately, there has been a small minority of people in those pickets who have intimidated, who have used inappropriate language, as far as I am concerned, and who have acted inappropriately. I must emphasise, in saying that, that it has been a very small minority and, furthermore, it also has not happened, to the best of my knowledge, for the last couple of days, after the issue was drawn to attention. Whenever there is a picket of that nature, there are always likely to be some people who do not act in the way they ought to act, and I think it is appropriate for us to indicate in this Assembly, if that is where the impact is known, that that is inappropriate conduct for those individuals.

I do not think it is reasonable to extrapolate from that that the whole picket is in any way out of control or acting inappropriately all the time. However, there have been examples that I am aware of where people have been harassed, and I think that is entirely inappropriate. So, whilst I support the Chief Minister in what she is saying and I know that to be the case, and I know that a union leader was on radio saying that it does not happen, that is not the case. It has happened. At the same time, I think it is appropriate for us to emphasise that the vast majority, probably 95 per cent or more, of the people on the pickets are acting appropriately, and that needs to be recognised.

MR DE DOMENICO (Minister for Urban Services) (3.23): Very briefly, Mr Speaker, I need to point out that Mrs Carnell did not say that things were out of control. She did emphasise that there were occasions she was aware of, and I have been aware of them as well, where people have been less than nice - let me use that word. Mrs Carnell and I have been abused, or spoken to in less than endearing terms. That is fine. We are here and we can take that. But when members of staff are complaining that some small minority of people allegedly involved in the pickets - I will try to be as nice as I can - are hurling abuse and sometimes getting very close to physical abuse, I think that is un-Australian and it is intolerable. Notwithstanding that I am a strong believer in people's right to do whatever they want to within the law, those people's rights ought to be blended with responsibilities as well. I have been made aware of times when staff members have been intimidated. I think that is wrong, and I ask those union leaders, most of whom are very responsible people, to make sure that their responsibility permeates across the board to make sure that, if those pickets are there, they are as peaceful as possible and respect the rights of other people who happen to disagree with the pickets being there.

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