PRIME MINISTER WEDNESDAY, 23 SEPTEMBER 1981
From the Press Office SUMMARY OF ABC'S " NEWSVO 2 4"
The Federal Government plans to lodge court on Fr yer
for the de-registration of the Builders Laboureis edeotion.
The Prime Minister told Parliament today that recent
retaliatory action by the BLF against Costain Australia would
be added to the case the Goverment had prepared.
Warwick Beutler
Only two weeks ago the Government said it would hold off its
de-registration proceedings against the BLF because of the
legal implications associated with the Royal Commission into
the union. But the latest action against Costain Australia
has made the Government determined to go ahead. The BLF
retaliated against Costain after the Minister for Industrial
Relations, Mr Viner tabled a document last week which Costain
was named as one company providing help to the Government in
its case for de-registration. Mr Fraser warned today that if
the BLF continued with bans or placed new bans on companies
giving evidence against it, the Government would not hesitate
to use its weight to uphold respect for legal processes.
Mr Fraser was speaking during debate on a motion of no
confidence in Mr Viner. Moving the motion, the Opposition
Spokesman on Industrial Relations, Mr Hawke, claimed that
Mr Viner had misled Parliament last week in his statement
about the state of unpreparedness of the case against the BLF
when he assumed the portfolio in April. The debate produced
little that was new. Mr Hawke repeated many of yesterday's
assertions. Mr Viner and Mr Fraser said there was no basis
for the extravagent claims that had been made. Mr Fraser
also defended Mr Viner outside the House.
Mr Fraser
There is no conflict between a statement which says substantiaL
progress has been made early in May and one in the middle of
April which says that the case is unprepared.
Question Sir, it seems that you are backing Mr Viner all the way.
Mr Fraser
Obviously, I am relating to the facts. Of course I am backing
Mr Viner because the facts support Mr Viner. Obviously
Mr Viner, when he got that Attorney-General's advice at
the middle of April pulled all the stops out on a matter
which the Government up to that point, over three or four
months had made the great play of. But over the succeeding
period it had proved very difficult to get all the evidence
and inform the Attorney-General's Department because they are
the ultimate judges, believed was adequate and ready to go
before the Federal Courts. / 2
Warwidk Beutler
One of the few interesting features of today's debate was that
the former Minister for Industrial Relations, Mr Andrew Peacock,
found that he could neither support the Opposition, nor the
Government, he abstained.
The BLF Federal Secretary, Mr Gallagher said today he had a
complete list of companies which had co-operated with the
FEderal Government in its attempts to de-register his union.
Report from Allan Knight.
Mr Gallagher
What happened was that there was a conference called one weekend
during the the transport workers strike in Melbourne and
Mr Viner ushered all the journalists in to the file room of
his office and on the table there was the Builders Labourers
de-registration application with all the names of the companies
who have given statements. So a very good friend of ours
got the names for us.
Question So will you be considering taking action against these other
companies?
Mr Gallagh'er
We will play it our own way. We have known for a while that
Costain had done it, but at this stage we will just deal
with Costain.
Question Will you be considering bans against those other companies?
Mr Gallagher
At this stage we will just continue in the dispute with
Costain. Question Are you coficerned about the new moves towards de-registration?
Mr Gallagher 1
No, I am not concerned about it, because I don't believe that
the Government will be able to convince the court that the
unionsmen should be de-registered. I don't think they have
sufficient information. The reason why they are now going
to put the application in is because he is trying to save
Mr Fraser and his job.
The ARbitration Commission today called a compulsory conference
for next Friday in a bid to end action by the Builders Labourers
Federation against the Costain company. The Masters Builders
ASsociation said that bans applied last week were crippling
the company and threatening standdowns in some areas. / 3
33 -
There has been a breakthrough in the dispute which has been.
holding up shipping around Australia and disrupting fuel
supplies in some states. A new vote on a return to work
by marine engineers is to be taken tomorrow as Garry Scully
reports.
The FEderal Opposition has called for a Royal Commission into
the circumstances of an aircrash at Sydney. airport last
year in which 13 people died. The call'came up at a
tabling in Federal Parliament today of a report on the crash
by the Transport Department. Report from Barry Cassidy.
Barry Cassidy
All 12 passengers and the pilot were killed when the
Beach 200 aircraft crashed into the Western sea wall at
Sydney's Kingsford Smith Airport one and three quarter minutes
after it had taken off for;. a flight to Temora. The Air Safety
Investigation Branch of the Transport Department has found
that the aircraft was 128 kgs over weight when it took off.
IT also concluded that the company Advance Airlines of
Australia required its planes to take off on reduced power
below the flight manual limit to extend the life of the engine.
The Opposition wants a Royal Commission because the investigation
also concluded that officers of the Department of Transport
knew of the practice but did nothing about it. The Opposition's
Transport%-Spokesman, Mr Morris spoke with Warwick Beutler.
Question Are you suggesting that there was incompetence?
Mr Morris
One can't tell from the report whether it is incompetence,
it seems rather there was a studied neglect.
Question Had it been going on for some time?
Mr Morris
Yes, the Department was aware of it, it was more or less
accepted practice in the industry and the Department, the
responsible authority knew about it, the IMinsiter knew about
it, did no-t~ hing about it. We had raised this matter. I
had raised it in the Parliament in late 1978 and I appealed
to Mr Nixon, the then Minister for Transport, for a bi-partisan
approach to the whole question of air safety. That appeal
was rejected with abuse and invective and in this report
we are seeing something of the results of that neglect
of the Minister.
Question Could it still be going on? / 4
-4-
Mr Morris
of course.
Military authorities in the Philippines have reported that
about 35 men women and children have been massacred by a
band of heavily armed men. Report from Keith Dalton.
HEavy rain and tough security kept protesters at bay during
the second match of the South African Rugby Team's tour of
the United States. Report.
There have been more arrests in South AFrica as blacks resist
Government attempts to evict them from so-called white
residential areas. Nine people have been detained in the
latest security clamp down. Report.
Government backbenchers today added their voice to supporters
of the Community Youth Support Scheme asking the Government
to continue a training scheme for those young unemployed
who will not be covered by other programmes. The Government
announced in the Budget that CYSS woul~ d be disbanded af ter
the end of next month, but today at the weekly joint government
party meeting in Canberra backbenchers urged the Government
to institute a new programme to preserve the best features
of CYSS.
Jeff Leach
There are 274 schemes operating throughout Australia, but the
Government has decided that from the end of October, their
role of training young unemployed and keeping them occupied
will taken up by other youth support schemes. The decision
has lead to widespread demonstrations, focusing on the
Minister for Employment and Youth Affairs and to Parliamentarians
coming under pressure from the churches, welfare organisations,
and CYSS employees. Delegates from CYSS have spent the past
two days in Canberra lobbying politicians. The Government
has already been forced to admit it will reconsider. Today
answering the backbenchers, Mr Brown said the Government was
obliged to empahasis youth training programmes and to take up
its responsibilit~ y to those who might not be provided for
in other programmes. Mr Brown said the Government was now
evaluating the proposals before it.
Conservationists will be denied a no-damns option in the
November ref~ rendum on the next major power sheme for
TAsmania. This was decided today by the Tasmanian ParliamentEary
Labor Party reversing an earlier promise to conservationists.
Report.