Industrial Dispute Data

The Hon. GREG DONNELLY: My question without notice is addressed to the Minister for Industrial Relations. Will the Minister provide details about current industrial dispute levels in New South Wales?

The Hon. JOHN DELLA BOSCA: The Australian Bureau of Statistics has released the industrial dispute data for the 2005 March quarter. It is, once again, a clear demonstration that the New South Wales industrial relations system provides a co-operative and harmonious environment that is good for workers and businesses. I will cite some examples to demonstrate that point. The national average for working days lost per 1,000 employees for the March quarter was 5.2. In New South Wales it was 1.4, a quarter of the national average. New South Wales accounted for just 9 per cent of the working days lost nationally, even though our State is home to about one-third of all Australian employment. Those figures are not just a one-off. New South Wales has a record of reducing industrial disputation over a long period.

Since 1985 the number of working days lost per 1,000 employees in New South Wales has fallen by 98 er cent. Evidence shows also that disputes are resolved quickly in New South Wales with almost half of all disputes lasting more than five days occurred in Victoria. Honourable members would be aware that the Victorian system operates entirely under the conflict-driven Federal industrial relations system. In contrast, only 20 per cent of long-running disputes occurred in New South Wales. Regarding lockouts, the latest was played out at the Williamstown Air Base, where Boeing locked out its workers three times in the past month. Lockouts provide another indicator of how confrontational the Federal industrial relations system can be; 91 per cent of all lockouts in Australia occur in the Federal system.

The proportion of long-running disputes that include lockouts has increased from 8 per cent of 10 years ago to close to 60 per cent under the Federal regime. That is more than a seven-fold increase. And regarding the construction industry, the Federal Minister claimed, "The industrial record of this industry is deplorable". Obviously the Federal Minister has not looked closely enough at the construction industry in New South Wales, an industry with a history of productive and harmonious industrial relations. New South Wales accounts for just 1.2 per cent of all the country's working days lost in the construction industry, per thousand employees, compared to almost 13 per cent in Victoria. As those comparisons are very illustrative of the point, I will repeat them: New South Wales accounts for just 1.2 per cent of the country's working days lost in the construction industry per 1,000 employees, compared to almost 13 per cent in Victoria.

The New South Wales industrial relations system enabled construction for the Sydney Olympic Games to be delivered on time and on budget. The Federal Government's submission to the Cole royal commission clearly proves that building projects are 20 per cent to 30 per cent cheaper, more efficient and more productive in Sydney than in Melbourne, because of our industrial relations climate. In Victoria, organisations that employ many people have claimed that the cost differential between New South Wales and Victoria could be much higher than the Commonwealth's estimates given to that royal commission. In one example, identical chemical plants were built in Sydney and Melbourne. In the Sydney example, the job was completed on time and on budget. The Melbourne job was completed a year late and $20 million over its budget. The company blamed that on bad work practices and poor industrial relations.

I remind honourable members that those bad work practices are institutionalised in Victoria because of the confrontational Federal industrial relations system. The Federal Governments wants to impose that system on all of us. It is not the industrial record of the industry that is deplorable; it is a record of the Federal industrial relations system that is deplorable. Just ask Bluescope Steel: last week a representative from that large multinational, indeed global, employer defended the New South Wales industrial relations system arguing that the New South Wales Industrial Relations Commission provides quick and co-operative dispute resolution. He said that the New South Wales system provides parties with swift access to effective remedies against the misuse of industrial power, without the need for crippling economic damage. The Federal Government wants to override the New South Wales industrial relations system, a system that resolves disputes quickly, keeping costs down, and a system built on the principles of fairness and co-operation.