Background
13.1 The Amendment Bill provides for a Board comprised of four members. There is to be one full-time member who is the Chief Executive Officer. Three other persons are to be appointed by the Governor as part-time members.1 Of the three part-time members, one is to be selected from a panel submitted by the Labor Council, one selected from a panel submitted jointly by the Employers’ Federation, the Metal Trades Industry Association and the Chamber of Manufactures, and one is to be a person nominated by the Minister to represent the interests of insurers.2 One of the part-time members is to be appointed by the Governor as Chairman of the Board.3
Submissions
13.2 The Legal Panel for the Labor Council of New South Wales stated in its submission4 that the effect of these provisions is to reduce worker representation to a permanent minority on the Board, that it is to be anticipated that employers and insurers will speak as one, and that workers ought to have a majority voice on the Board.
13.3 The Labor Council of New South Wales has informed us that on 19 January, 1983 a meeting was held of representatives of unions affiliated with the Council. A resolution was passed insisting that union representation in a system of compensation for workers must not be outnumbered by employer/insurer representation, and that the Board should be expanded to five members with a full-time Chairman. The text of this resolution is attached to the second submission of the Labor Council of New South Wales.5 In that submission it was also said that the Chairman should be a person sympathetic to the cause of workers and their dependents and should be appointed by the Minister from outside the staff of the public service. A similar view was expressed in the submission of the Labour Council of New South Wales, Compensation Department.6
13.4 In its submission, the Federated Municipal and Shire Council Employees’ Union of Australia New South Wales Division7 said that the provision made for the constitution of the Board was totally unsatisfactory. It also suggested that the Chairman should be a full-time employee, and a person sympathetic to the cause of workers, appointed by the Minister From outside the public service.
Issues Involved
13.5 We make no recommendation as to the composition of the Board, which we regard as beyond the scope of our interim report. However, the evident difficulty of striking a balance of sectional interests raises for consideration whether it would not be preferable to avoid sectional interests altogether in constituting the Board. As an alternative, provision could be made for sectional interests to be represented on a standing consultative committee. There could even be several standing committees each representing a particular sectional interest. It is, however, beyond the scope of this inquiry to investigate whether a Board of Management on which sectional interests are directly represented affords the best prospect of administrative efficiency and the achievement of the objectives envisaged for the Board.
Summary
13.6 No recommendation is made for the reason outlined in the preceding paragraph.
FOOTNOTES
1. Amendment Bill, Schedule 6, cl.31(3).
2. Ibid., cl.32.
3. Ibid., cl.33.
4. Schedule: Item 22.
5. Schedule: Item 35.
6. Schedule: Item 34.
7. Schedule: Item 25.
