The President of the NSW Industrial Relations Commission night warned that judges and tribunal members will be "placed in a straitjacket" as punishment for the state government's public sector wages settlements.
Speaking at the inaugural Jeff Shaw Memorial Lecture at Trades Hall, Justice Roger Boland paid tribute to the former attorney-general and Supreme Court judge who died in May last year. He used the lecture to attack the government's approach to new workplace safety and wages laws.
Justice Boland said it was clear that the government blamed the commission.
"I think it was grossly wrong and unfair to have done so," Justice Boland said.
"What I strenuously object to is the government laying blame for the failure of its wages policy on the commission and using that as the excuse to shackle the commission's independence."
A bill introduced by the Finance Minister, Greg Pearce, on Tuesday night would strip the commission of its independent power, forcing it to abide by any government policy contained in a regulation issued by the minister.
"The truth is that the commission, by various means, implemented the wages policy. That there was a failure to fully achieve offset costs, if that was in fact so, is not a failure that can be sheeted home to the commission," Justice Boland said.
He said that between 1995 and 2007 only the nurses and the teachers had arbitrated wage claims in the commission, while all other public sector wages were agreed between the government and the relevant union.
"That Parliament would directly fix wages and salaries for government employees rather than an independent tribunal is a novel proposition in Australia. No other state or territory does so; neither does the Commonwealth," he said.
Justice Boland also said he was puzzled why the government kept its plans for the workplace laws a secret, including that the commission no longer hear occupational health and safety cases, until the bill was tabled.
"I have been criticised for having the temerity to express my concern to the relevant ministers at not being advised about a change that will have a profound effect on the industrial court's jurisdiction," Justice Boland said.
Justice Boland said Mr Pearce had conceded that his relationship with the commission had not begun well.
''I hope that discussions between myself and and the minister will put matters back on track,'' Justice Boland said.
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