Page 2007 - Week 10 - Tuesday, 24 October 1989
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in relation to the establishment or variation of the designated work group.
Now, Mr Speaker, I would suggest that that provides some degree of issue in relation to the matter and, if there is any concern on the part of the employees, perhaps the registrar could have some responsibility and role in mediating in this area.
However, in relation to this matter of involved unions, I think that, in general terms, it is quite acceptable. At this point it is my understanding that those members of the Rally present in this chamber will support the proposal to retain the term "involved union" in the legislation. On that note, Mr Speaker, it is probably appropriate that I close my remarks on this very important piece of legislation. I look forward to seeing it provide protection for the workers of the ACT in the future.
MR BERRY (Minister for Community Services and Health) (9.19): First of all, Mr Speaker, I would like to put the record straight in relation to the inaccuracies that Mr Humphries put before us.
Mr Humphries: Not more inaccuracies? Two lots in one day; what a shame!
MR BERRY: Well, it is something you are pretty good at, and we have heard a heap of them today. It gets a little bit onerous having to get up and straighten them out all the time, but they are - - -
Mr Kaine: Do you sit there keeping score, Wayne?
MR BERRY: One of them, of course, was the fact that the Liberal Party would not have been aware of this in the lead-up to the election. The Labor Party had a very strong commitment to the introduction of occupational and health and safety legislation when it took office. It was a matter of great shame that occupational health and safety legislation had not been introduced in the ACT before self-government and it was in the light of our concern about that that we developed a strong commitment to introduce the strongest legislation that was possible to prevent occupational health and safety injuries in the Territory.
Since we have come to office, we have all heard the Liberals trying to weaken the Labor Party's commitment to strong occupational health and safety legislation and, of course, to entrench conflict in the workplace on occupational health and safety matters. But that is the tradition of the conservatives in the Liberal Party from whom we continually hear the rhetoric of flexibility and all those sorts of things. I think the flexibility they refer to is that of some unscrupulous employers to decide whether their employees should have occupational health and safety legislation to protect them.
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