Page 3413 - Week 11 - Wednesday, 14 November 2007
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to take a case forward, but of course a lot of that has been wrecked under Work Choices.
The trade union movement was also involved in green bans to protect heritage buildings in Sydney in the 1970s. Yes, the BLF; I know the BLF does not have a proud record on a lot of things, but they certainly made sure that buildings with a great history were left standing. Without the trade union movement, those buildings would not be there.
The fight against discrimination in the workplace is another reason that I am proud to be a member of a trade union and to have had a long association with them—because they fought to ensure that discrimination in the workplace—
Members interjecting—
MS MacDONALD: The heckling of the peanut gallery over there is not going to distract me from this because I am and will remain a proud member of the trade union movement and will continue to say that there is no shame in being involved with the trade union movement.
There are a few other things that the trade union movement have done for the men and women of this country—holiday leave; occupational health and safety so that we try to reduce the number of deaths and injuries in the workplace; sick leave, ensuring that when you are sick you can have time off from work, are not sacked for taking time off from work or, if you are, that you can do something about it. I had a number of experiences working for a couple of different trade unions and I recommend the membership.
Arts
DR FOSKEY (Molonglo) (6.16): I applaud the diversity of topics we cover in the adjournment debate. It is a strange sort of disjointed conversation but it allows me at least to stand up here and talk about theatre, because that is what I want to talk about tonight.
Last night I went to see a play called Give and Take at the Street Theatre and I commend the play to everybody. It only runs until Saturday night, so you had better get in quick. Just fortuitously it was one of those nights where the actors, the director and the set designer come out onstage afterwards and talk to the audience. The director of the Street Theatre is Caroline Stacey. She was also the director of the play and she suggested an idea which I want to develop here tonight and commend to the government as one to take up.
The ACT is a city where a huge number of actors live, in comparison, and a number of directors and a number of people with the capacity to perform in and produce plays. However, there is not one single permanent theatre company in the ACT that is funded. That is the issue. We have the Canberra Repertory Theatre, which relies on volunteer actors and directors, and we have a number of project-based productions where people get together. Give and Take was one of these, and the actors were really happy because they were being paid. Do you know that probably three per cent of the
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