PRESS OFFICE TRANSCRIPTSUDY 21OTBR97
RICHARD COLVILLE: " SUNDAY REPORT"
CANBERRA Question Prime Minister, there has been a great deal of discussion
over the past week or so about your proposed amendments to
the Arbitration Act. Exactly what was your Government trying
to achieve, Why did you regard this as so important?
Prime Minister-
There are three things that Tony Street proposed and which we
accepted, because I think they make a great deal of commonsense.
There have been problems before in getting particular cases
to the Full Bench. so that they can be dealt with, in a sense,
in the most important way in which the law and the system is
capable. one case in particular, Telecom, dragged on for a long
while without it going to the Full Bench. The Government believed
that the President of the Commission needed a capacity to say,
in the national interest, a particular case should go to the
Full Bench. The provision also allows the Minister to suggest
to the President -that in the national interest something to
go to the. Full Bench, but it is the President who must make
the decision. So the President of the Commission is having his
position strengthened by those provisions. Nobody can suggest
that is diminishing the power or the integrity of the Commission
itself. At the centre it has been strengthened. I think is
a very eminently sensible proposal. If I could go through them,
there is another provision which requires Commissioners to
consult with their Deputy President. The Commissioners are
grouped into panels under a Deputy President, depending upon the
industries they are in. Again, there have been cases where
decisions have been made clearly outside the indexation guidelines.
They have caused industrial trouble. Claims for flow-on. There
have appeals. There has been disputation as a result. It would.
have been much better if the decision that way, outside the
guidelines that is the Commissioner's guidelines, not-the
Government's necessarily, the Commission's guidelines much
better is those decisions had never been made. So, the provision
I believe is a relatively harmless one. in which the Commissioners
are required to consult with the Deputy Presidents. The Government
believes and hopes that that will lead to a greater degree
of cohesion within the body of decisions made by the Commission.
I would have thought that is a pretty harmless sort of amendment,
but it is nevertheless an important one in the overall strength
of the Conihission and where the Commission itself is going.
The third amendment is for use in very serious situations when
the safety, health or waelfare of the Australian community, or
if part of the Australian community, is threatened, prejudiced,
by severe industrial action. An application can be made to the
Commission if the Commission rules that the safety, health or
welfare of the community is under threat then Ehat does give / 2
' SUNDAY, 21 OCTOBER 1979
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Prime Minister ( continued)
the Government certain powers in relation to de-registration
of part of the union or the whole of a union which could be
used much quicker than the normal de-registration process.
Again, it is the Commission that must make the proclamation.
It is that that then could give the Minister of the Government
powers in relation to that section. But the Government knows
quite well that the test of that system will be the way in
which the Section is itself used. On many occasions we have
had circumstances over the last two to three years where
people have said: " Why doesn't the Government act". Well,
very often it has been because it is in a State arena with
State employees. Sometimes has been because the law has been
deficient, sometimes it has been Commonwealth employees and
we have acted. This will extend the powers available to the
Commonwealth in extreme emergency situations when the trade
union movement itself, or some parts of it, are confronting the
people of Australia. We know quite well that we will be judged
on the way this section is used or not used. But we are happy
to have that responsibility.
Question On the first instances you outlined, as summing it up, it
just requires the Commission to talk about major cases to
discuss them more thoroughly than perhaps might have taken place
in the past?
Prime Minister
That is the requirement on the Commissioner to refer the
matter and discuss it with the Deputy President. It is a
question of discussion. If the Deputy President doesn't then
give the Commissioner directives, the Commissioner still makes
his own decision.
Question
Why did you think these particular amendments so necessary.
Have there been cases in the past where you were unhappy with
the way that a particular Commissioner handled
Prime Minister
I don't want to mention cases in particular at the moment,
but there have been one or two cases where plainly the decisions
went right outside the guidelines. They were appealed against.
The award was reduced, and all of that led to a great deal of
disruption. People had an expectation. It was taken away from
them as a result of a further decision. In addition, of course,
when there are unreasonable decisions in terms of their extent
and scope that creates a follow-through, a flow-through situation
and many other people say: " If this union, this industry, can
get that, why can't we get that". Ultimately what we have done
doesn't alter, can't alter, what the Commission has determined,
but what we hope is greater cohesion within the body of
decisions made by the Commission. I would have thought that that
is a very natural objective. ./ 3
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Question Prime Minister, the main trouble area in the world I suppose
at the moment is Kampuchea, and your Government has just
announced tax deductibility for donations to charities in
this area. Do you think this will improve or increase the
flow of aid coming from Australia, substantially?
Prime Minister
I think it will. For decades all Australian Governments have
resisted to make gifts for foreign aid purposes tax deductible.
because the Governments ' have ' successively taken the view-that
so much aid is provided by direct payment from the Government
and that is from taxpayers that if people wanted to pay
something over and above that, all right, that is their affair,
we are very happy for them to do so, but not something that should
in a sense be susbsidised by tax deductibility. But we felt
that the problems in Kampuchea are so great and they go back
over a long while; there were up to 2 million people killed,
destroyed, under the Pol Pot regime itself, then the invasion
involving 15 to 17 divisions of the Vietnamese Army, the
continuing guerilla war, and massive refugee and massive famine
problems, difficulties and degradation amongst the people for
those who remain in Kampuchea. I doubt if any country, within
the memory of most people living, or certainly since 1945, has
gone through a more difficult, more stark, more horrifying
circumstance. It is not all that far from us. our own part
of the world Southeast Asia has been upset and disturbed
by massive refugee movements coming out of the problems in
Indochina. We believed, because of the total circumstances,
that a lot of people in Australia would want the maximum
opportunity of closely identifying themselves with the difficulties
and hardships of Kampuchea. We thought, therefore, we ought to
make an exception to the general rule which prevailed up to now.
So donations made to the Kampuchean Relief Fund through the course
of this financial year will be tax deductible. I hope it does
lead to substantial additional sums being made available over
and above the further aid that the Government itself has provided.
Question A lot of people have voiced concern that whatever aid is given
by Australia, or by individuals, may not be going to the people
who need it most. Have you been able to get any sort of
assurances that it: will?
Prime Minister-
I've got that concern myself, but it just means that we have to
do everything we can to see that aid gets to people who need it..
I would be very concerned if I thought it was going to get into
the hands of the Vietnamese Army. That must be a possibility, but
the international agencies are well aware of that. We are well
aware of it. All I can say is we will be doing everything we
possibly can in the most difficult circumstances, to make sure
that aid gets to those who really need it. Andrew Peacock is
trying to get some aid officials to go with one of the relief
planes to see on the ground what is happening. I am told there
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Prime Minister ( continued)
could be some probl. ems with that, but we will be wanting to
get Australian officials on the ground in Kampuchea so we
can have a direct report as to how matters are being handled.
Question
The other issue that has come up over the past few days has
come up over the past few days has been that of Marlin fishing
off north Queensland. I suppose that as one of Australia's
keenest amateur fishermen yourself, do you have any sympathy
or feeling towards the people who think that their livelihood
may be disrupted by the agreement your Government has just
signed?
Prime Minister
I would have enormous concern if I thought that Marlin fishinga
great fishing sport was going to be disturbed by what has
happened. It is worth noting that most Marlin fishermen, I
believe the best, when they catch a Marlin they tag the fish
and they let him go. If it is going to be a great trophy fish
or a trophy win I suppose that might be another matter, but
I think the best catch, tag and release. For a sport, fishing
of that. kind I think is the way it ought to be. What has
happened is that for 25 years or so the Japanese have been
fishing these waters and nobody has really known what's happened.
They have been fishing, taking fish and that's gone on. Under
the new fishing agreement that we have signed with Japan, they
are excluded from quite considerable areas where they previously
were able to fish. So that is the first point.
The second point I would make is that under the fishing arrangement
there will be a much better after a little while, of what'shappened,
because there will be supervision, information collected.
Then we will be in a better position to judge, on a basis of fact.
Thirdly, these particular elements, again, as I'm told, are
capable of re-negotiation at the end of a 12 month period. So we
will be watching the evidence very closely over this period. If
there is a need for re-negotiation of some elements of the
agreement, and in accordance with the agreement, well then, we
will certainly want to do that.
Question How, exactly, are you going to supervise this to make sure that
they're not taking marlin or anything els-e that they-shouldn't.
Prime Minister
Oh, I think that you will find there will be people on fishing vessels
themselves, catches will be supervis-ed and a lot of this-is a
question of gaining knowledge and that's in the interests of
fishing itself, of the commercial fishing. Because, you need to
understand that the resources are not being over-fished, that they
are not being depleted, because people want to be in this as-a
long-term business, not coming in, making a kill and destroying the
grounds and going out again. So, it's in the interests of everyone
to see that there is greater knowledge and understanding of marine
Prime Minister ( continued)
resources, whether it's off the North Queensland coast or
in other parts of the waters around Australia.
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