Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . .

Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2000 Week 3 Hansard (8 March) . . Page.. 683 ..

MR SPEAKER: Indeed, and I am aware of that, Chief Minister. I will do my best.

MS CARNELL: In Canberra it would be fair to say that the unions have lost the support of a very large number of the people involved. Mr Speaker, I have heard Mr Stanhope describe the union movement as the industrial arm of the Labor Party, so you would have to agree, too, that the political arm of the union movement, the local Labor Party, has had, shall we say, a very similar success rate to the union movement since 1993. Since 1993 they have managed to lose two elections and they have managed to reduce their support to almost the same level as the union movement, around about 25 per cent.

Mr Stanhope: You are devastated.

MS CARNELL: You should be devastated. Mr Speaker, I ask members this: If they were thinking about joining a union and they heard people - - -

Mr Wood: This was not the question either. No, this is abuse and you know it.

MR SPEAKER: Order! The house will come to order. You are only prolonging the answer to the question. I suggest you be quiet.

MS CARNELL: To finish, Mr Speaker, what it shows is that the workplace has changed, but those opposite, and a large percentage of the union movement, not all of it, simply has not changed with the changing times. I would have to say, when you listen to people like those opposite speak as they have in this question time, it is not surprising that people in Canberra stopped voting for them and stopped joining unions.

MR HIRD: I ask a supplementary question. Can the Chief Minister say whether this dramatic decline in union membership in recent years has resulted in any change in the Government's industrial relations policies?

MS CARNELL: Mr Speaker, this Government, wherever possible, has tried since 1995 to maintain a very professional relationship with the union movement and it has achieved a huge amount. Since coming to office we have managed to conclude enterprise bargaining agreements with all unions on at least one occasion, and in this current round of bargaining a significant number have signed up again. The decline in union membership cannot be blamed on the policy options that have been adopted by this Government. There has been no second wave union industrial reforms here, Mr Speaker. In other words, the reduction in union membership cannot be blamed on the Government. I think it can be blamed on the Opposition, on the Labor Party, for simply not realising what modern employees need from their organisations.

MR WOOD: Mr Speaker, I have a simple question to the Treasurer in relation to the proposed merger between ACTEW and AGL. Will the Treasurer tell us in the Assembly the total value of the assets being brought to the joint venture by each party?

Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . .