[Greens-Media] Greens call for a 'real' Senate Inquiry into IR

[Twomey, Chris (Sen R. Siewert)]

		Monday 15th August 2005

Senator Rachel Siewert Australian Greens Senator for WA

Greens call for a 'real' Senate Inquiry into IR
The Greens have responded with scepticism to the announcement today by
Workplace relations Minister, Kevin Andrews of a proposed Senate Inquiry
into Industrial Relations.
"The Greens would support a real enquiry into Industrial Relations, but
there is no way a proper enquiry could be conducted in the timeframe
their proposing" said  IR spokesperson, Senator Rachel Siewert 
"This is a Clayton's enquiry Andrews is proposing - a quick and dirty
job aimed at taking the public pressure off the government, and glossing
over the cracks"
"The truth is that John Howard has promised radical changes to
Australian workplaces, but has nothing to show for them ... other than a
drop in the polls and a public relations fiasco"
"We are now being told that the Legislation won't be ready until late
October ... and yet the Government is still indicating that they want to
push it through the Senate by Christmas," said Senator Siewert "There is
no way that a proper enquiry can be held in that time"
"The Minister admits it is a complex piece of legislation, and yet he
seems to think an enquiry can be rushed through quickly"
"If the Minister truly believes the proposed changes are in the nation's
best interest, he has nothing to fear from a real enquiry," she said,
"...Andrews should give the nation the opportunity to examine his
legislation properly"
"He could start by heeding the findings of previous Senate enquiries
into unfair dismissal provisions"
 The Greens believe that the proposed legislation will hurt working
families and will impact most upon the already disadvantaged -
particularly young people, women and those in low paid work, casuals and
temporary workers.
For more information contact

> Chris Twomey
> Personal Advisor
> Senator Rachel Siewert
Australian Greens Senator for Western Australia
> WA office: 08 9228 3277 Canberra: 02 6277 3587
> mobile: 0407 725 025
www.rachelsiewert.org.au

> This e-mail, together with any attachments, is intended for the named
> recipient(s) only. If you have received this message in error, you are
> asked to inform the sender as quickly as possible and delete this
> message and any copies of this message from your computer system
> network.
> 
> Any form of disclosure, modification, distribution and/or publication
> of this e-mail message is prohibited. Unless otherwise stated, this
> e-mail represents only the views of the sender and not the views of
> Senator Siewert or the Australian Greens.
>