EQUAL OPPORTUNITY TRIBUNAL
The Hon. Dr MEREDITH BURGMANN: I seek to ask a supplementary question. In what way under the Act can methods be brought forward to encourage the employer to mediate? Given that Australian Iron and Steel has admitted discrimination in this case, it would seem that time is on their side and that it needs to be -
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The PRESIDENT: Order! The honourable member will ask the question.
The Hon. Dr MEREDITH BURGMANN: Will the case go forward on Thursday, as set down?
The Hon. J. P. HANNAFORD: The case is set down for Thursday. No doubt it will go ahead on Thursday. That is a matter between the tribunal and the parties. It is not for me to interfere in those proceedings. I have drawn to the attention of the parties that mediation mechanisms are available. There is no legal mechanism to direct parties to mediate. The honourable member would be aware that mediation is a mechanism by which the parties sit down, with the aid of another party, to try to seek a resolution of the problem before the court. Forcing parties into mediation will never result in a solution, because mediation is a matter of the parties willingly acknowledging that they want a resolution of the problem and then sitting down and dealing with the issues. In this particular matter I have done as much as appropriately could be done, and that is to draw the parties' attention to the existence of alternative dispute resolution measures. It is now a matter for the parties. That is not to say that at some time in the future alternative approaches may not be addressed by me because steps have been taken by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court to develop mechanisms by which the Supreme Court will seek to encourage parties to address more meaningfully the issues of alternative dispute resolution before they embark upon most expensive litigation processes. I am pursuing that issue, and I hope I shall be able to make more announcements on it in the near future.