Page 1063 - Week 04 - Tuesday, 2 May 2006
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WorkChoices legislation, in particular the removal of the unfair dismissal requirements for workplaces with less than 100 employees, will have a negative impact on Canberrans and their families.
The federal minister, Mr Andrews, was asked if a worker could be sacked for no reason or sacked because the employer simply did not like the worker. His response was typically indirect but confirmed that a worker who was employed in a workplace with 100 or less employees could be sacked where, as Mr Andrews said, “personalities don’t match”. There have already been many examples of workers being sacked and being asked to reapply for their jobs at a lesser rate of pay or as a casual employee. It is clear that workers with families will fare worse under the new working conditions in the ACT.
MR DEPUTY SPEAKER: The member’s time has expired.
MRS DUNNE (Ginninderra) (4.26): Mr Barr’s contribution dovetails nicely with the remarks that I would like to make. This MPI is about the impact of modern working conditions on Canberra families and, as is predictable, those on the other side have run another “let us beat the Howard government over the head”. But let us take up some of the themes that Mr Barr spoke about, both here and in his inaugural speech this morning—the role of government in many aspects of life both here in Canberra and across Australia—and let us think about the role of government in those issues that are very important to working families.
We have heard a lot about work/life balance. We have instituted family-friendly working conditions in the Legislative Assembly, or so people would have us believe. Mr Barr has confirmed some of the figures that I have been aware of about the proportion of women in the work force in the ACT, and it is considerably high. The participation rate figure that he used today for women with children under four in the ACT is 10 percentage points higher than the national average. He spoke at length about the problems of women returning to work and how governments need to be innovative to provide the right balance and to encourage participation in the work force. There is nothing in those remarks that anyone could take exception to.
So let us look at the track record of the ACT Stanhope government when it comes to this. Let us look at what ministers have done, or failed to do, for the people of south Canberra—more specifically for the working women of south Canberra with children under four—who are in search of childcare places. We have the sorry tale of the scramble over childcare places that we have seen mismanaged by the previous Minister for Emergency Services, the current Minister for Planning, who is now the minister for emergency services, and the “don’t bring it near me” Minister for Women, now Deputy Chief Minister.
What we have seen since probably August last year is complete mismanagement of the leasing for the Teddy Bears Child Care Centre, an organisation that provides a service to about 80 Canberra families—80 families where there are women participating in the work force who have children under five; 80 families who are struggling to participate in the work force and to have an appropriate work/life balance.
What innovations have we seen from the Stanhope government? First of all, we have had a complete fiasco. What has happened in relation to the Teddy Bears Child Care Centre
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