Mr STIRLING - 1997-04-29
I refer him to the upcoming negotiations for the Northern Territory Public Service. Will he give the Assembly and Territorians a rock-solid guarantee that there will be no forced redundancies during the life of the agreement, that the pay rises in the agreement will be fully funded, and that his administration will not seek to introduce individual employment contracts for those categories of employees currently covered under awards?
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, what a juvenile and naive question, coming from a shadow spokesman! The negotiations have not even begun. They are scheduled to begin in May. When they begin in May, all the matters brought forward by either party will be negotiated and, at the end of the day, there will be a resolution. What the honourable member ought to be asking is whether we want a constructive dialogue and an expeditious resolution. Or does he still support the 14-month campaign that he and his buddies from the Australiana Education Union foisted not only on school students but on the whole of the Territory until only 9 months ago?
I am not anticipating what the outcomes may be. Logically, when there is a resolution, they will be locked into the agreement. There will be many components to the end agreement. These may include matters such as no loss of jobs. They will include a quantum of increase and many other things, including the nature of the agreement itself. All those things will be debated. From the nature of correspondence that I have received from the union, it wants to resolve issues even before they reach the table and it is demanding certain answers. That is not the process. We will have to wait until the Commissioner for Public Employment and the union start their deliberations on or about 8 May. As I said, this is a premature question and a naive one at that.
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ANSWER
Mr Speaker, what a juvenile and naive question, coming from a shadow spokesman! The negotiations have not even begun. They are scheduled to begin in May. When they begin in May, all the matters brought forward by either party will be negotiated and, at the end of the day, there will be a resolution. What the honourable member ought to be asking is whether we want a constructive dialogue and an expeditious resolution. Or does he still support the 14-month campaign that he and his buddies from the Australiana Education Union foisted not only on school students but on the whole of the Territory until only 9 months ago?
I am not anticipating what the outcomes may be. Logically, when there is a resolution, they will be locked into the agreement. There will be many components to the end agreement. These may include matters such as no loss of jobs. They will include a quantum of increase and many other things, including the nature of the agreement itself. All those things will be debated. From the nature of correspondence that I have received from the union, it wants to resolve issues even before they reach the table and it is demanding certain answers. That is not the process. We will have to wait until the Commissioner for Public Employment and the union start their deliberations on or about 8 May. As I said, this is a premature question and a naive one at that.
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Last updated: 09 Aug 2016