NT Education Minister Jo Hersey says CLP will scrap Portable Long Service Leave
Education Minister Jo Hersey says the government will take its first steps to repeal legislation which she claims has been a ‘huge detriment’ to Territory families.
Education Minister Jo Hersey says the government will seek to repeal legislation which she claims has been a “huge detriment” to families.
On Wednesday morning, Ms Hersey fronted media to announce the government would introduce a Bill next week aimed at repealing the Portable Long Service Leave (Community Services Sector) Act, which was introduced by the Labor Lawler Government less than 12 months ago.
The Bill was introduced as a means of improving access to leave entitlements for community service workers in the Territory, covering employees in childcare, aged care, social work, youth work, disability services and community legal services.
Under the legislation, community service workers could take their long service leave benefits with them when changing jobs.
However, the Finocchiaro Government will now move to scrap the legislation, which they claim is forcing families to pay higher childcare fees.
“Childcare centres told us this would cost them $50,000 extra a year, a cost that would be directly passed onto parents in the form of increased fees,” Ms Hersey said.
“With about 10,000 employees impacted, Treasury estimated Labor’s scheme would have increased community service costs by $20 million annually in the Territory.”
Ms Hersey said the Bill was “rushed” by Labor and compounded the Territory’s “eye-watering debt”.
“There are many schemes, just like the Portable Long Service Leave, that were totally uncosted, and that would have had a huge detriment to families right across the Territory with children in childcare.”
Territory Child Care Group director Sarah Lloyd welcomed the announcement.
“There were definite concerns around exactly what the Minister was saying, around the financial burden that initiatives coming through that are not costed and the passing onto parents,” she said.
“There was also the uncertainty around the transitional arrangements, (so) potentially back-paying long service leave over quite a number of years was something we were concerned about.”
Opposition leader Selena Uibo accused the government of “short changing” workers and said “every Territorian will pay the price”.
“Lia Finocchiaro has again failed Territorians by scrapping portable long service leave entitlements to 10,000 hardworking community services workers,” she told the NT News.
“At a time when the Territory should be doing everything it can to attract people here, the CLP is taking us backwards, stripping thousands of childcare, aged care and other essential workers of important entitlements that they can access in other jurisdictions.”
The Australian Services Union also took aim the decision, SA/NT assistant secretary Scott Cowen calling the decision a “retrograde step” which would push the NT behind the rest of the country.
“This is a disgraceful decision that undermines the working conditions of dedicated social, disability and community sector workers, the vast majority of whom are women,” he said.
“These workers already face significant challenges due to high workloads, low pay, and job insecurity. Cutting their entitlements and making their working conditions worse will only drive more experienced staff out of the sector and make it even harder to attract new workers.”
The ASU have also rejected claims the Bill would have had negative economic impacts.
“This is about fairness. Community, social and disability sector workers deserve the same entitlements as their counterparts in other states,” Mr Cowen said.
“They do some of the toughest jobs in our society, and instead of supporting them, the CLP has chosen to attack their conditions.”
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Originally published as NT Education Minister Jo Hersey says CLP will scrap Portable Long Service Leave
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