Early Childhood Australia and NIFTeY are concerned about the indirect effects that these proposed changes to the industrial relations laws will have on children in Australia.

Graham Vimpani, on behalf of the Board of NIFTeY, has written to Prime Minister John Howard.

Professor Vimpani expresses concern about the negative impact these changes will have on those with little bargaining power in the workforce and that, as a consequence of this, these people will enjoy less-positive outcomes in their roles as parents and members of the community.

Under the current system there are examples of working arrangements which make it very difficult for parents to care for their children. For example, where employees are required to be on-call; where rosters are set with little notice; and where employees are unsure of the number of hours they will work each week.

Early Childhood Australia supports NIFTeY in its request that John Howard allow sufficient time to consider these proposed reforms and to fully investigate the impact they will have on all Australians. And, furthermore, to ensure that discussion takes place on a community level, as well as in Parliament.

The full letter from NIFTeY in regard to the proposed changes to Australia's industrial relations laws is available here (pdf).

Concerns over the impact of the proposed industrial relations changes have been raised by many others

Federal Sex Discrimination Commissioner, Pru Goward, believes that the changes will 'have major implications for the Australian community'. One of the most significant effects will be the disappearance of paid maternity leave.

Sydney University's professor of industrial law, Ron McCallum, speaking at a meeting of 151 other academics at the National Press Club in Canberra, strongly criticised the proposed reforms and the lack of discussion which has been allowed by the Government.

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