Page 1066 - Week 04 - Tuesday, 2 May 2006
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with everything that Laurie wanted to put in place because I, as somebody working on the ground with those people at the coalface—I was doing that on a daily basis—believed it would make life more difficult.
On the other hand, I would also say that I certainly have never been one to suggest that the way that the industrial relations system is set up should be balanced so much to one side, so unfairly balanced to the employee side, that it would send small businesses, medium businesses or large businesses broke, because the fact is that everybody is affected by that. The people who own the businesses, whether they be small business owners or large shareholders, are affected, as well as the people that they employ. There is no point in sending a business to the dogs, should I say, because at the end of the day all you do is hurt the working families.
But, as I said at the start, I have recollections of some fairly shadowy behaviour from individual employers—and that was under the previous system. I worked there for five years from 1995 to 2000, so I was there when the first wave of changes were introduced by Peter Reith and I got to see the changes that Laurie Brereton put through as well. There are employers out there—I do not say that they are all like this—
Mrs Dunne: Such a concession.
MS MacDONALD: I am sure even Mrs Dunne will concede that there are employers who behave in a fashion that is not decent.
Mrs Dunne: If you concede that there are unionists who behave in that way, I will concede that.
Ms MacDONALD: Mr Temporary Deputy Speaker, I am hoping that you will direct Mrs Dunne not to interject, because it is disorderly, as she well knows. I did not interrupt her rant, even though she was carrying on about the Teddy Bears Child Care Centre, and I do not see how that relates to this topic at all.
Mrs Dunne: Well, you should have made a point of order about that.
THE TEMPORARY DEPUTY SPEAKER (Mr Gentleman): Mrs Dunne, order!
Ms MacDONALD: It does not relate to this topic at all, Mr Temporary Deputy Speaker, so I would ask Mrs Dunne to remain silent even if she does not agree with what I am saying, and I am quite sure that she does not.
The fact is that under the previous system—and I worked in the white-collar sector for both the trade unions that I worked in—I saw behaviour that was just abhorrent. I do accept that there are a number of times when employees, and members of my union, would behave in a fashion that I did not think was acceptable either, and I would tell them so. If they were not behaving in a fashion that was fair to the employer, I would say to them: “You have to be fair to the employer as well. You can’t just behave in a fashion that is going to jeopardise your job and jeopardise the livelihoods of the other people that you work with, as well as the business of the place that you are working in. If you are required to turn up at a certain time, you have to turn up at a certain time. You cannot
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