Page 1877 - Week 07 - Thursday, 20 August 1992
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Thursday, 20 August 1992
________________________
MADAM SPEAKER (Ms McRae) took the chair at 10.30 am and read the prayer.
PARENTAL LEAVE (PRIVATE SECTOR EMPLOYEES) BILL 1992
MR BERRY (Minister for Health, Minister for Industrial Relations and Minister for Sport) (10.31): I present the Parental Leave (Private Sector Employees) Bill 1992.
Title read by Clerk.
MR BERRY: I move:
That this Bill be agreed to in principle.
Madam Speaker, it is the policy of the Labor Government that there should be comprehensive parental leave coverage for all workers, applying equally to natural and adoptive parents. There should be a right for workers to take maternity and paternity leave and obligations on employers to grant such leave.
In July 1990 the Full Bench of the Australian Industrial Relations Commission brought down a decision in a test case establishing a national standard for parental leave to be included in awards. In that very comprehensive case, extensive submissions by the parties presented the arguments for and against parental leave from the standpoint of both employers and several others, including the ACT Government, all of whom had sought leave to present submissions. The outcome of the case was a detailed decision which included draft parental leave provisions covering maternity leave, paternity leave and adoption leave. The published decision of the commission included a draft parental leave clause for insertion into awards. Madam Speaker, I now table a copy of the parental leave clause for the information of members.
Under section 28 of the Australian Capital Territory (Self-Government) Act 1988, an ACT enactment will have no effect to the extent that it is inconsistent and incapable of operating with Commonwealth legislation or an award made under Commonwealth legislation. This means that the ACT can legislate, in this instance, only for employees who have no award coverage, and for employees who have award coverage if the legislation can operate concurrently with the award. This Bill, therefore, applies the national standard for parental leave to those workers in our private sector who are not covered by awards, or who are covered by awards which make no provision for parental leave and do not preclude such an entitlement. The Bill does not extend to employees whose awards have an entitlement to parental leave, even where that entitlement is lagging behind the national standard set by the commission in 1990. In those cases, the relevant employees would need to initiate change to their award through their union.
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