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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2003 Week 8 Hansard (19 August) . . Page.. 2844 ..

MS GALLAGHER (continuing):

expiring."And that was for the AEU to agree to a 12 per cent outcome over three years-and I don't know where you've got your 121/2 per cent outcome over three years-as long as they had this clause in the agreement. In all my years of union organising, I have never seen a clause like this, that would send the parties into dispute at the first stage of negotiation. There has never, in my knowledge, been a clause like this.

Mr Pratt says that the ACT government has stalled; it requires leadership at the eleventh hour. Well, it's more like in the first five minutes, Steve, because we haven't even got to the negotiations yet, because of the clause that your party in government agreed to. What a hopeless clause to agree to. To send parties into dispute in the first five minutes of negotiations is the most outrageous situation to put both the government and the teachers in.

Mr Pratt: That's your fantasy.

MS GALLAGHER: It's not a fantasy, Steve; it's there; it's certified in the Industrial Relations Commission. That is the agreement.

Let's just trawl through some of the incorrect things that you've said. You said that no offer had been made on time. An offer was made on time, in line with the agreement, both parties working with the agreement.

Let's look also at the public sector wage increases and the reason why-and to quote your own words-"teachers are well underpaid"At the end of the agreement that your party, when in government, negotiated, it delivered a situation where ACT teachers at one point in the pay scale are 6.87 per cent behind. That's what you have delivered ACT teachers and left this government to fix. You've delivered 3 per cent per annum to teachers, which has resulted in this situation. And now you're saying, "Let's have parity. Let's have New South Wales parity."What a joke! You've negotiated an agreement that has put these teachers behind, and now it's okay-

Mr Pratt: I don't think you're being accurate.

MS GALLAGHER: Right, well it's a very convenient strategy.

Mr Pratt: I don't think you're being accurate.

MS GALLAGHER: I must say, Mr Pratt, I am keeping your media releases. I feel that we should almost invite you to join our left caucus next month when it meets, because the conversion to the workers friend has been quite astounding; the conversion to the workers friend is absolutely astounding. You've just flicked over and decided this is a convenient campaign to jump on because your party has put this situation firmly at the feet of this government and it's convenient to jump on it-that's what it is, Steve; it's convenient to jump on it.

Mr Pratt: You're dragging the chain there.

MS GALLAGHER: All right. Let's also look at the public sector wage increases that your government was delivering back then. I think over a three-year period-

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