Mrs HICKEY - 1996-05-15
Yesterday, the Minister for Public Employment let the cat out of the bag by revealing the Country Liberal Party administration's secret agenda on the teachers' dispute. He made it very clear that this government is waiting for the Coalition government's industrial relations legislation in order that he may use that sledgehammer to further crush the Territory's hardworking teachers. Is it the Chief Minister's intention to keep this dispute going for as long as it takes for his Canberra masters to get their aggressive legislation through parliament?
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, the Leader of the Opposition was really stunned yesterday by the final revelation by the general secretary of the Australian Education Union that this was all part of a national agenda. It would not matter what was offered to the teachers union in the Territory, it had to keep this dispute going on behalf of its colleagues in New South Wales, the ACT and other states. She talks about secret agendas! I would have thought that, by the time the president, Chris Sharpe, and the executive officer, Mark Crossin, had left my office the other day, there was nothing secret about my agenda. My agenda is very clear. I want this dispute brought to an end. I want no more guerilla tactics and our children being used as pawns. I want the union to stop these rolling strikes and to come back to the negotiating table with something that we can all agree on, instead of this constant stand-off where whatever the Territory government offers is simply not good enough.
The great revelation has been made that we are caught up in some kind of national agenda of the teachers union. It is enough to make you weep to know that, no matter what you offer, some clown in Canberra, who is orchestrating all of this, will tell Mark Crossin via his mobile phone: 'Good result, comrade, good result'. He was ringing up and reporting in. Do you think a couple of teachers did not hear him do it?
Make no mistake, this government is determined to bring this to a head one way or the other. We will not allow the continued use of Territory children as pawns in this dispute. The government's offer is generous. I hope that teachers will take the time to compare what was in the original log of claims and what has been offered. There is no basis for this dispute to
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continue. It should come to an end and we should all get back to the business of providing quality education for Territory students. If members opposite think that I will stand by and let some clown, some union boss in a national headquarters, dictate to this government while our children suffer, they are in for a shock.
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ANSWER
Mr Speaker, the Leader of the Opposition was really stunned yesterday by the final revelation by the general secretary of the Australian Education Union that this was all part of a national agenda. It would not matter what was offered to the teachers union in the Territory, it had to keep this dispute going on behalf of its colleagues in New South Wales, the ACT and other states. She talks about secret agendas! I would have thought that, by the time the president, Chris Sharpe, and the executive officer, Mark Crossin, had left my office the other day, there was nothing secret about my agenda. My agenda is very clear. I want this dispute brought to an end. I want no more guerilla tactics and our children being used as pawns. I want the union to stop these rolling strikes and to come back to the negotiating table with something that we can all agree on, instead of this constant stand-off where whatever the Territory government offers is simply not good enough.
The great revelation has been made that we are caught up in some kind of national agenda of the teachers union. It is enough to make you weep to know that, no matter what you offer, some clown in Canberra, who is orchestrating all of this, will tell Mark Crossin via his mobile phone: 'Good result, comrade, good result'. He was ringing up and reporting in. Do you think a couple of teachers did not hear him do it?
Make no mistake, this government is determined to bring this to a head one way or the other. We will not allow the continued use of Territory children as pawns in this dispute. The government's offer is generous. I hope that teachers will take the time to compare what was in the original log of claims and what has been offered. There is no basis for this dispute to
Page 1344
continue. It should come to an end and we should all get back to the business of providing quality education for Territory students. If members opposite think that I will stand by and let some clown, some union boss in a national headquarters, dictate to this government while our children suffer, they are in for a shock.
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Last updated: 09 Aug 2016