What will life be like in the new New South Wales?
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- Published: Thursday, 02 June 2011 08:39
Well, the purge is complete and old Labor has been well and truly dumped.
For us, the critical areas are what will the Government do about the NSW Industrial Relations Commission, local government generally and planning.
We understand from UnionsNSW that the Opposition prior to the election gave undertakings that they will make no changes to the Industrial Relations Commission in their first term which would have a negative impact on those employees working under awards or enterprise agreements of the NSW Commission. That's good news for us because the NSW Commission is extremely user-friendly and has been a great assistance to local government over the decades.
What will happen about local government remains to be seen. The new Minister for Local Government Don Page, is the member for Ballina and, while he might have been hoping to be the Minister for Small Business, has ended up with local government. A lot of councils fit into the category of small businesses anyway but we can't help but think he may be a little disappointed.
We've already written to him asking for a short meeting to welcome him into the job, talk to him about some things that we think are important or that should change, and to cheer him up generally if he does feel disappointed.
And on planning, while on the face of it the end of developer manipulation of the planning system will be welcome, the cosy relationship with the pub owners and developers was appropriated by NSW Labor from the other side, who believe that relationship is rightfully theirs, in the first place.
Goodbye and good riddance Part 3A. Wonder what will happen now?
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