Page 2560 - Week 08 - Wednesday, 23 August 2006

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government and me. Dr Foskey stated that I have not been vocal about ACTION buses and I have not referred to workers in workplaces in the ACT. Maybe your memory is failing, Dr Foskey, because just last week I was very vocal about the workers employed at the SITA yard in Hume. I stood in this chamber and spoke about how the management and employees were having issues negotiating their certified agreement. I should say that that agreement has now been reached. It appears that management approached the workers and asked them to come to back to work, and they have reached an agreement, which is great. Also, during estimates, Dr Foskey, I asked questions in relation to issues at ACTION. With regard to your comments about sustenance, I hope you have been able to have some because I want to make sure that everybody in this workplace—all the staff in the Assembly—has a healthy workplace.

Mr Seselja stated that 159,000 new jobs have been created under the Howard government. Out of the 159,000 jobs created, how many do you think have adhered to award wages? How many of those jobs have taken away the basic rights of workers? WorkChoices is responsible for the loss of conditions for employees, for the loss of OH&S provisions. I would like to take a moment to think about what Mr Seselja said this morning in his speech. He raised the fact that there have been 159,000 new jobs and 129 of those were full-time jobs. I believe the Howard government has calculated some 7,000 new jobs in the ACT out of this year’s budget—that is right, 7,000 new jobs. That will be good, but what Mr Seselja may not know is that there were 14,000 jobs cut from the ACT in 1996 by the federal government.

There are going to be 7,000 jobs created here by the federal government out of this budget. If we use that, we see a net loss of 7,000 jobs. If we use the same test on the numbers Mr Seselja worked out earlier on—that is 159,000 new jobs—does that mean there were 318,000 jobs cut so that we could have 159,000 jobs created? But I will get back to the topic.

There have been many cases of Canberra workers being sacked because they have refused to sign AWAs. Indeed, at the moment the LHMU is going through a dispute with cleaners at the defence complex. They have been offered AWAs at some $25 a week less than their current employment conditions and, I understand, without conditions referring to leave and family leave. I urge all members to support this motion and thank them for their time today.

Question put:

That Mr Gentleman’s motion be agreed to.

The Assembly voted—

Question so resolved in the affirmative.

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