Page 3545 - Week 10 - Tuesday, 25 August 2009

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I am very pleased to say thank you very much to everybody in the Assembly for your support of this wonderful piece of legislation.

Question resolved in the affirmative.

Bill agreed to in principle.

Detail stage

Bill, by leave, taken as a whole.

MR HARGREAVES (Brindabella—Minister for Disability and Housing, Minister for Ageing, Minister for Multicultural Affairs, Minister for Industrial Relations and Minister for Corrections) (11.18): I move amendment No 2 circulated in my name, in accordance with standing order 182A [see schedule 1 at page 3635].

When I presented this bill, I foreshadowed that the board construct of the new amalgamated Long Service Leave Authority would need to be revisited at some time in the future if any other industries were to be included within the administration of the authority. As the government is committed to a portable long service leave scheme for the community sector industry, it is timely that this bill be amended to provide for a more flexible and accommodating board structure prior to the commencement of the new arrangements for the authority on 1 January 2010.

Currently under the bill the governing board of the proposed new authority would initially consist of a chair, two additional independent members, one member representing employers and one member representing employees from each covered industry. Based on the current industries, that would see the inaugural board consist of seven members. However, with the possible inclusion of the community sector, that number would rise to nine and, with any future industry participants, that number would increase by two each time.

As the purpose of the board is to provide good governance and business leadership, it should be in a position to provide the best balance of equity to its membership and ensure an appropriate mix of skills and experience can be brought to the governance of the authority. With the size of the board not restricted, its capacity to achieve this would become progressively more complex and hindered by its numbers, with the possibility of a conflict of outcomes from within the increasingly varied and diverse industries.

Under the proposed amendment, the governing board will provide a membership of up to a maximum of seven members, with the membership criteria based on industry skills, governance and financial leadership and expertise. I commend the amendment to the Assembly.

MRS DUNNE (Ginninderra) (11.20): The opposition will be supporting this amendment but on the proviso—and I think it needs to be repeated—that, while the opposition supports the extension of the portable long service scheme to the community sector, we do have concerns about the propensity that the government


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