Page 4056 - Week 11 - Tuesday, 23 October 2018
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
The next point is that under this legislation, workplace delegates and union reps can basically call meetings and examine documents whenever they want. They can come in three times a day if they want, to examine documents and call meetings. Clearly there is an industrial dispute occurring if the union is trying to force a business to sign an EBA. That is a tactic that could be used to significantly disrupt that business. The recommendation is that the legislation include a certain frequency. If you want to examine books or if you are going to call meetings, there should be some measure about how frequently that can occur: that you cannot just have that happening every day or two times a day.
The registrar, under the legislation, has significant powers and will have significant influence over the way that this legislation is interpreted and implemented. We want to make sure that the registrar is someone that is there to represent the interests of business and workers. That is what we want to see: ethical standards implemented. If we have a registrar that is going in and is objective in the way that this legislation is implemented, that would be entirely necessary. To be frank, I do not trust that that will occur, so I have recommended that, similar to the review of government advertising, the registrar should be selected based on a two-thirds majority of the Assembly.
I have also said that in the drafting of the secure jobs code, the right to freedom of association and non-association is preserved in provisions related to worker induction, which includes, of course, the right not to join a union.
I thank members of the committee for the way we have proceeded here, but there is significant disagreement on the effect of this legislation. We all agree on the intent, but based on the advice—the very strong advice—from the MBA, the chamber and all the businesses that they represent, this is not going to have the desired effect. What it will do is give more power to the unions, which is actually the true intent of this bill. (Time expired.)
Question resolved in the affirmative.
Environment and Transport and City Services—Standing Committee
Statement by chair
MS ORR (Yerrabi) (10.50): Pursuant to standing order 246A, I wish to make a statement on behalf of the Standing Committee on Environment and Transport and City Services relating to petition 6-18. The petition was received by the Assembly on 20 March 2018 and referred to the committee under standing order 99A. As signatories to petition 6-18, 4,560 residents of the ACT requested that the Assembly reinstate the light rail stop planned for Mitchell.
The committee notes that, in her response to the petition on 15 August 2018, the then Minister for Transport and City Services said:
… that funding has been allocated in 2018-19—
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video