Mrs HICKEY - 1996-05-21
Yesterday, we witnessed yet another cruel stunt by the Country Liberal Party government that was aimed at inflaming and prolonging the teachers' dispute. In what seemed to be a ham-fisted attempt to further intimidate teachers, the government leaked information that it was contracting teachers from southern states to work in the Northern Territory and offering to fly them here. Why is the CLP prepared to throw away taxpayers' money to fly teachers in and house them here for the purpose of taking jobs from our Territory teachers, and how much money is the minister prepared to throw into the economy of the southern states in order to destroy the Territory's own public servants? Why does he insist on inflaming and prolonging this dispute at a time when teachers have postponed industrial action in the hope of settling it?
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, would members opposite have this government sit on its hands while our schools throughout the Northern Territory are thrown into chaos by teachers who want to turn their backs on students? From yesterday, any teacher who goes on strike will be out of school indefinitely, and they will not be simply out of the classroom; they will be out of pocket as well. That is a matter that is very serious. It is serious not only for the students, their parents and those teachers who want to get on with the job, but also for those teachers who contemplate following the advice of their union to strike yet again.
Mr Ede: Bully boy!
Mr FINCH: The member for Stuart may say `bully boy', but I am not sure I could find acceptable parliamentary language to describe a union that has treated our children with such contempt in the past 12 months with all the bans, stop-work meetings and now strikes.
The Leader of the Opposition asks how much money we are prepared to spend. How much of the taxpayers' money are they prepared to spend to find peace? Are they prepared to accept the $54m, 14-point package? It is a most generous offer. The union leadership claims to be the good guy, here to help the teachers, and says that the union has been anxiously pressing us for an answer. The $54m over 3 years is for the teachers alone. A significant part of that is a 21% pay increase. You did not hear me correctly? They have not yet matched New South Wales' absurd 24%. You ask why it takes a little time to digest that. My first reaction was to control my laughter, but I realised that they were serious. It is 21% over 3 years. That would put them ahead of any state by a country mile. They say that their claim is to maintain parity with Western Australia. They would not need anything like that. In fact, after the 3% plus 4% that the teachers have been offered in the Territory, against the catch-up in Western Australia, they will at least match the Western Australians. Western Australia has not forecast its increases for years ahead, but one can assume that it will be around the CPI - 3% or 3.5% - not 7% per annum starting from now.
One could say that it is only $54m extra on an education budget. So what? Members opposite believe that is just fine. If a 7% increase is granted to teachers, would it not be
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reasonable to assume that the other 85%, or 12 000, of Territory public servants would want 7% in the next round of bargaining? One would think they would assume that they had some entitlement to it. That $54m would look very sick compared to 7% across the board for 2 years to the entire 14 000 public servants.
Why have we been taking our time? In that 14-point package - not 3 points as the secretary of the union tried to put across this morning on radio - there are some that are totally unacceptable. We will get around to answering every single dot point, hopefully at some time today. It has been a matter for serious consideration by the government. Long before the decision by the union to withdraw the projected strike action this week - and I commend it for that. because to put those teachers in that danger would be irresponsible ...
Mr Bailey: You put a gun to their heads and said: 'Dare me to pull the trigger'.
Mr SPEAKER: Order!
Mr FINCH: The member for Wanguri is the greatest benefactor of education in the Northern Territory by virtue of his getting out of the system.
Quite correctly, the Department of Education started processes to find the best possible options and solutions to minimise the impact of projected strikes before the decision was taken to defer action for this week. For the secretary of the union to imply now that the government is seeking to take advantage of this week's reprieve is nothing more than nonsense. The department has a responsibility. It has accepted it, and any expense involved in making up for the lost input caused by any potential strike over any significant period will be met easily, in my view, from the money we will save through non-payment of those strikers.
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ANSWER
Mr Speaker, would members opposite have this government sit on its hands while our schools throughout the Northern Territory are thrown into chaos by teachers who want to turn their backs on students? From yesterday, any teacher who goes on strike will be out of school indefinitely, and they will not be simply out of the classroom; they will be out of pocket as well. That is a matter that is very serious. It is serious not only for the students, their parents and those teachers who want to get on with the job, but also for those teachers who contemplate following the advice of their union to strike yet again.
Mr Ede: Bully boy!
Mr FINCH: The member for Stuart may say `bully boy', but I am not sure I could find acceptable parliamentary language to describe a union that has treated our children with such contempt in the past 12 months with all the bans, stop-work meetings and now strikes.
The Leader of the Opposition asks how much money we are prepared to spend. How much of the taxpayers' money are they prepared to spend to find peace? Are they prepared to accept the $54m, 14-point package? It is a most generous offer. The union leadership claims to be the good guy, here to help the teachers, and says that the union has been anxiously pressing us for an answer. The $54m over 3 years is for the teachers alone. A significant part of that is a 21% pay increase. You did not hear me correctly? They have not yet matched New South Wales' absurd 24%. You ask why it takes a little time to digest that. My first reaction was to control my laughter, but I realised that they were serious. It is 21% over 3 years. That would put them ahead of any state by a country mile. They say that their claim is to maintain parity with Western Australia. They would not need anything like that. In fact, after the 3% plus 4% that the teachers have been offered in the Territory, against the catch-up in Western Australia, they will at least match the Western Australians. Western Australia has not forecast its increases for years ahead, but one can assume that it will be around the CPI - 3% or 3.5% - not 7% per annum starting from now.
One could say that it is only $54m extra on an education budget. So what? Members opposite believe that is just fine. If a 7% increase is granted to teachers, would it not be
Page 1383
reasonable to assume that the other 85%, or 12 000, of Territory public servants would want 7% in the next round of bargaining? One would think they would assume that they had some entitlement to it. That $54m would look very sick compared to 7% across the board for 2 years to the entire 14 000 public servants.
Why have we been taking our time? In that 14-point package - not 3 points as the secretary of the union tried to put across this morning on radio - there are some that are totally unacceptable. We will get around to answering every single dot point, hopefully at some time today. It has been a matter for serious consideration by the government. Long before the decision by the union to withdraw the projected strike action this week - and I commend it for that. because to put those teachers in that danger would be irresponsible ...
Mr Bailey: You put a gun to their heads and said: 'Dare me to pull the trigger'.
Mr SPEAKER: Order!
Mr FINCH: The member for Wanguri is the greatest benefactor of education in the Northern Territory by virtue of his getting out of the system.
Quite correctly, the Department of Education started processes to find the best possible options and solutions to minimise the impact of projected strikes before the decision was taken to defer action for this week. For the secretary of the union to imply now that the government is seeking to take advantage of this week's reprieve is nothing more than nonsense. The department has a responsibility. It has accepted it, and any expense involved in making up for the lost input caused by any potential strike over any significant period will be met easily, in my view, from the money we will save through non-payment of those strikers.
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Last updated: 09 Aug 2016