Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . .

Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 2 Hansard (27 February) . . Page.. 540 ..

MR WOOD (continuing):

Let us look at another furphy that this Government has thrown up, another one of these spurious arguments, and it is constant in their rhetoric today: "Let us not have any more holidays". More holidays? For how long have we had this holiday? Something like 60 years; getting up to that time. Now this Government is trying to present it as a new holiday, another holiday, more holidays; over and over again, "more holidays". They have been talking about the economy in Canberra. This is not a further imposition, if it was an imposition at all, and I do not believe it is. This is not something now being loaded onto the system. This is a holiday that has been enjoyed by an important part of our community for something like 60 years. You are now happy for that benefit to be taken away, and I think that is what is disgraceful. You should be out there leading the way on behalf of workers in Canberra. Get out there and lead; stop this nonsensical rhetoric that you are going on with; and get in there and, in a few minutes' time, support Mr Berry's important Bill.

MS TUCKER (12.14): Mr Speaker, the Greens will be supporting this Bill. At a time when Liberal governments all around the country are cutting back conditions for workers, we believe this legislation to maintain the status quo is well justified. What these new rules are going to mean is that the tendency will be for industrially weak workers to get a worse deal than those who are industrially strong. Already 30 awards have been targeted to have picnic day removed. The Federal Industrial Relations Commission has ruled on the safety net of 11 public holidays. The Full Bench of the commission ruled, however, that this was a minimum, not a maximum; and, as Mr Berry explained in his tabling address the other day, this is quite clear. Just because Kennett has knocked off public holidays, do we have to do the same here? Public holidays can be legislated or they can be in an enterprise bargain. It is quite legitimate for a parliament to choose to legislate where appropriate. Mr Speaker, some people do not even have an enterprise bargain, and this is another reason why we need to ensure a level playing field by including the picnic day in the Holidays Act.

Another issue that is worth raising is that the public sector workers have an additional public holiday in the ACT in December which is not enjoyed by the private sector. It has always been the case that all workers in the ACT have had 12 public holidays. It should not be the case that some workers are entitled to this according to their position or power. Picnic days have had a long tradition in Australia and have historically been supported by both employees and employers. In 1953, the picnic day was, in fact, moved from a Wednesday to a Monday to minimise commercial disruption. Picnic day is a day for families - a family day ticket to the picnic day costs $20. I have been informed that business still contributes financially to the running of the picnic, and certainly not all businesses are opposing this legislation. Mrs Carnell protested today that there has not been time to consult on this issue. I do not agree with that. What I am saying is that there are two issues here, and they have been of incredible concern and discussion for the whole time that I have been a member of this place. Firstly, there is the issue of the continual undermining of equity within industrial relations in this country, not just in the ACT. We have not just come across this issue; it has been debated in this parliament and in the Federal Parliament, and the whole community is very well aware of this issue. This is what this is about. This is about trying to ensure some equity for workers in this climate where we see more and more that if you are strong you will get the conditions that might be reasonable for a group; if you are not, that is tough.

Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . .