Page 2981 - Week 10 - Tuesday, 16 October 2007
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the 21st century and remain, like her soon-to-be-disposed federal leader, firmly in the middle of the 20th century. Does Mrs Burke seriously expect the education system to be able to deliver the level of detail necessary to assist ACT young people to protect themselves from the minefield called WorkChoices in the course of our students’ busy academic year? Some businesses, as Mr Gentleman said earlier, are throwing up their hands in despair of ever getting it right, and they are going back to the tried and true method of reaching agreement with employees. How are our young people able to prepare themselves for their very first interview for a job with the negotiating power stacked against them from the start? There is information provided through the Workplace Authority website and national phone line, but this is not always easy to access, and the more vulnerable members of our ACT community are suffering from this.
The committee noted that most state and territory governments have set up independent information services of one kind or another and recommends that the ACT government establish an independent workplace advocate, similar to that of the Northern Territory, to inform, educate and consult with employees and employers as well, as Mr Gentleman said. The committee considers that, as more and more employers take up the opportunity provided by WorkChoices, demand for such a service in the ACT will grow. The committee believes such a service will greatly assist employers who are also struggling to make sense of the new laws, let alone employees. Recent information about the number of AWAs that have failed to meet the test of fairness certainly confirms the complexity of these laws in comparison to what some employers now say were simpler laws and simpler processes prior to the introduction of WorkChoices. How many agreements did not meet the basic requirements of this test? It is thousands. What an indictment on the legislation; what an indictment on those businesses and employers.
The committee would also like to see more detail and disaggregated data made available through the Workplace Authority on all aspects of AWAs, including the reasons behind the failures of AWAs in the fairness test. The data currently available lacks the depth or detail necessary for rigorous scrutiny. Mrs Burke pours cold water on the recommendation that the ACT lobby the federal government to ensure that comprehensive data on AWAs is gathered and made available. If the benefits of WorkChoices to employees and employers is as good as the commonwealth government would have the Australian community believe, then it is their responsibility to provide the comprehensive data to support those claims. To date, the committee has heard little evidence to suggest that employees in low-paid and low-skilled jobs are doing better since the introduction of WorkChoices. In many incidences, the evidence would suggest the opposite. The committee would be keen to hear from the ACT business representatives in the post-WorkChoices environment. Unfortunately, business representatives were not keen to come forward. The committee was unable to determine whether the predicted outcomes of award simplification had delivered the expected business growth.
While the ACT government cannot legislate on matters to do with these industrial relations, there are a number of areas where the ACT government can act to protect the most vulnerable members of our community. Surely we have a duty to our citizens to do that. Although it is difficult to predict the outcome of the upcoming federal
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