Standing Fast

Contributors

Ian McLachlan, AO, MP, entered Federal Parliament as the Member for Barker in South Australia on March 24, 1990. Mr McLachlan has considerable experience in the Australian community through his involvement in business and agriculture. He is still involved in one of Australia's largest export industries as a woolgrower, with pastoral interests in South Australia, Victoria and New South Wales. Mr McLachlan was President of the National Farmers' Federation for four years until his retirement in May 1988, during which time farmers achieved a number of important industrial milestones in the wool and meat industries. Until his election to Parliament Mr McLachlan served as a Board member of Elders IXL for 10 years and was Deputy Chairman of the South Australian Brewing Company. On Australia Day 1989, Mc McLachlan was made an Officer in the General Division of the Order of Australia for his service to primary industry. Mr McLachlan was re-elected to Parliament as the Member for Barker in the March 1993 election and was appointed Shadow Minister for National Development and Infrastructure.

Paul Houlihan was educated at St Patrick's College, Ballarat. Paul returned to the family dairy farm at Koo-Wee-Rup. On 26 January 1970 Mr Houlihan started working for the Federated Clerks Union in Victoria as an organiser. In August 1972 he went to Hobart to take over as State Secretary of the FCU in Tasmania resigning from that position in December 1979. He spent 1980 at the University of Tasmania studying law and on 1 December 1980 he commenced work with the National Farmers Federation. During his eight years with the NFF he was involved in some of the major industrial issues at the time, the live sheep dispute, the wide comb dispute, the prosecution of the first successful incapacity to pay case and The Mudginberri Dispute. In December 1988 Mr Houlihan started First I.R. Pty Ltd as an innovative industrial relations consultancy and has been in private practice since then.

Richard R S Tracey, QC 1969 LL.B. (Hons) University of Melbourne, 1974 LL.M. University of Melbourne and 1979 LL.M. University of Illinios. He was admitted to the Bar Australian Capital Territory January 1975, Victoria May 1975 and New South Wales June 1975. In 1970-72 Mr Tracey was Associate to The Hon. Sir Richard Eggleston, Judge, Commonwealth Industrial Court; President, Trade Practices Tribunal. 1972 Tutor, Law School, University of Melbourne; 1973 Senior Tutor Law School, University of Melbourne; 1973-74 Teaching Fellow Law School University of Illinios. 1975-79 he was lecturer Law School, University Melbourne in the subjects of Constitutional and Administrative Law, and Industrial Law. 1977-80 he was Sub-Dean, Faculty of Law, University of Melbourne and in 1979-87 he was Senior Lecturer, Law School, University of Melbourne. Mr Tracey became Queen's Counsel Victoria in 1991. Mr Tracey has published widely on many aspects of law.

Judith Sloan has worked at the National Institute of Labour Studies since 1981. She was Deputy Director from 1984 to 1992, was appointed Director in 1992. Professor Sloan holds a first class Honours degree in Economics from the University of Melbourne, Master of Arts degree in Economics, specialising in Industrial Relations, also from the University of Melbourne and a Master of Science degree in Economics from the London School of Economics. Professor Sloan has published widely in journals and books, covering labour market, wages policy and industrial relations issues. She is an Associate Editor of the Australian Bulletin of Labour. Among her more recent publications are: "Education", Chapter in Blandy, R.J. and Walsh, C. (eds.) (1989) Budgetary Stress: The South Australian Experience. Allen and Unwin; The Impact of the Higher Education Contribution Scheme, Monograph, Department of Employment, Education and Training (1990): "Trade Union Structure and Workplace Efficiency: An agenda for Reform", Australian Quarterly, Spring 1990"; "Immigration Policy: Intake and Settlement Issues", Chapter in Australian Immigration: A Survey of the Issues, Bureau of Immigration Research, 1990; and Study of the Labour Market for Academics, with Meredith Baker, Richard Blandy, Frances Robertson and William Brummitt (AGPS, 1991). Her most recent work is Productive Relations? Australian Industrial Relations and Workplace Performance, a book published by Allen & Unwin, and co-written with Mark Wooden and Robert Drago. Professor Sloan is also a regular columnist for the Australian Financial Review. Professor Sloan has held a number of government appointments, including membership of the South Australian Council of TAFE, Trade Development Council and the Textiles, Clothing and Footwear Development Authority. She is currently an executive member of the South Australian Centre for Economic Studies.

Barry Hammonds received his secondary school education at Howick College, Auckland, New Zealand. From age 17 he worked on farms where he learned to shear and by age 19 he was shearing full-time, working in both Australia and New Zealand over the past 12 years. Mr Hammonds sheared through the troubled times of 1983 and 1984 with the introduction of wide combs, and was among the first to use this more efficient gear in Queensland in 1985. He was physically threatened and beaten by thugs and consistently harassed for using the improved technology. In Charleville, Queensland, 1988 he and his wife Moera took over Rodger's shearing run and built it up to shear about 250,000 a year. During this time he was again constantly victimised by the AWU because he did not force his employees to join the union and was prosecuted for minor breaches of the Queensland Shearing Industry Award. He has already spent 6 days in Charleville's gaol for two convictions that he didn't make his shearers sign a union shearing agreement before commencing. At the present time he is again facing a possible gaol sentence for working on a Sunday in May 1992. Mr Hammonds introduced the Troubleshooters Available labour-hire system to the shearing industry in July 1992. In the nine months since then he has been able to reduce shearing costs by 10% and estimates that shearing costs could be halved.

Graeme Haycroft is an industrial relations consultant specialising in enterprise bargaining. With a background of teaching and superannuation fund management, he now works principally in the development of the labour-hire agency concept and is in the process of franchising the system throughout Australia. Mr Haycroft is Chairman of the National Party-Queensland Industry, Commerce & Economics Policy Committee, President of the Federation of Chambers of Commerce of South Queensland. Before the 1989 State election, Mr Haycroft's firm did 35 of the 70 Voluntary Employment Agreements (VEAs) in Queensland, which were chronicled in the paper, Enterprise Agreements Myths v Reality in Queensland, for The H R Nicholls Society's 1990 conference. He has prepared and delivered many major conference papers on enterprise bargaining. Mr Haycroft is widely known for his successful introduction of contract shearing to Western Queensland shearing sheds and the Youth Contract work scheme on the Sunshine Coast.

Michael Kroger was educated at Monash University 1975-79, Bachelor of Jurisprudence (1977) and Bachelor of Laws (1979). Mr Kroger founded Kroger & Kroger in September 1982. His legal experience was in major industrial litigation over many years, he was involved in numerous reported cases in the Supreme Court of Victoria, Equal Opportunity Board and Federal and State Industrial Relations Commissions and has undertaken numerous appearances before tribunals in the industrial relations jurisdictions. Mr Kroger has been heavily involved in the industrial, political and legal processes leading to changes in Australia's industrial relations laws. In 1982 he was Guest of the World Zionist Organisation tour of Israel; 1988 Guest of the US Ambassador to Australia and the US Information Service to observe the US Presidential Election; 1989 Guest of the British Foreign Office to examine labor market and waterfront reform in England; 1991 Leader of the Australian Political Exchange Program Delegation tour of Germany. 1977-1978 Mr Kroger was President, Monash University Liberal Party, 1978-1979 Federal President, Australian Liberal Students Federation, 1978-present Foundation member and trustee of the Sir Robert Menzies Lecture Trust, 1987-1992 President, Victorian Division of the Liberal Party of Australia and as President of the Victorian Division between 1987 and August 1992 he was Chairman Administrative Committee, Chairman Policy Assembly, Chairman Finance Committee and Member Federal Executive of the Liberal Party of Australia. Mr Kroger has wide media experience on radio, television and print media coverage of elections. In 1993 Mr Kroger became Chief Executive at J T Campbell & Co Ltd.