Hansard debates

                        PUBLIC SECTOR (UNION FEES) BILL
                                 Second reading

  Mr KENNETT (Premier) -- I move:
  That this Bill be now read a second time.
The purpose of this Bill is to provide an orderly mechanism for the deduction of
union fees by public sector employers from payments to employees.
This ends  the  ad  hoc  situation  that  has  existed  to date whereby separate
arrangements  have been made under  various agreements in different parts of the
public sector.

Clause 4 of the  Bill will also bring to an end the automatic supply of names of
public sector  employees  to  trade unions.  This  is necessary to  protect  the
fundamental right of a person to work. Freedom  of  association  is  an integral
part of the effective exercise of that right.
Under the  Employee  Relations Bill, every  Victorian  will have a  choice about
whether to join a union or an employee association.
This Bill, together with other reforms, implements the government's pre-election
commitment  to  ensuring freedom  of  association.  It  allows  the  Minister to
authorise  or  refuse the deduction of union fees from employees' wages and will
apply across the public sector.
I commend the Bill to the House.

Debate adjourned on motion of