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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2004 Week 09 Hansard (Wednesday, 18 August 2004) . . Page.. 3833 ..

Dr Pocock suggested that lack of household time for women with children in paid work created a constant feeling of juggling, not balancing, and sick children caused high stress and represented a repetitive pressure point in working women’s lives. Research also found that parenting was associated with a greater time crunch for both husbands and wives ranging from a total of 20 to 40 hours more work per week than their child-free counterparts. Child free wives and husbands work about 8½ hours a day in their various labours, whereas mothers work 14-hour days and fathers work 11-hour days.

Research conducted by Jacobs and Gerson in 1998 found that jobs that require very long hours are not family friendly, which is no surprise. Long hours restrict the time that parents can spend with their children, which may have an impact on the emotional and intellectual development of a child. Children revealed that while they accepted parents’ hours of work, stressed and busy parents were impaired in their capacity to offer children what they wanted most—unstressed, unrushed parents with time on their hands and the energy to give them focused attention.

Long hours place particular stress on women with families who work double shifts in paid and domestic labour. Extended hours at work undermined relationships with partners through loss of time spent together and loss of intimacy. Long hours at paid work may also result in role conflict and work overload and exacerbate awareness of inequities in the division of housework. The erosion of leisure time as a result of long hours in paid work can also lead to family tension as the hours spent in restorative activities decrease. The loss of time for restorative activities also has implications for and impacts on a person’s performance in paid work.

We all know the old saying, “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.” Research has also found that long work hours can lead to reduced concentration, decreased understanding of complex ideas and a reduction in work effectiveness and quality, which is not what we want to see in any of our workplaces. Extended hours in paid work also affect the social life and citizenship of the individuals who work them. Long hours mean that employees cannot devote time to voluntary activities that help to sustain sporting clubs, schools, care of the extended family and social institutions.

Dr Pocock’s research revealed that components of the fabric of the community—such as the extended family, community resources and the capacity for voluntary work—were being undermined by the growing paid work commitment. While there is plenty of scope for more study on the effects of long and unreasonable hours on the Australian community, the existing body of evidence provides a convincing argument that long work hours damage society, families, children and individuals. Changes in the composition of the Australian labour force, with a growing role for women and those with dependants, mean that these issues will become more, not less, significant in coming years.

In light of that, they demand policy responses that directly address the effects of unreasonable hours on family and community life. What better place to start than in the ACT Assembly? We do not want our families or the families of our staff to suffer from the effects of long work hours, nor do we want our community to suffer from rushed decisions or hastily decided policy. In that light, it is imperative that members agree to this motion. I believe we are all guilty at some time or another of waffling, filibustering

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