Senator ALLISON(5.28 p.m.) —The Democrats see no reason why the parliamentary clerks and the departmental secretaries to the parliamentary service should not have access to the unfair dismissals provisions in the Workplace Relations Act. I am yet to hear a satisfactory explanation from the minister as to why some classes of Public Service employees should not have access to those provisions and why they should not have the same access as other Public Service employees and other private sector workers. The only rationale is the obvious one: that the government wants the capacity to dismiss senior public servants on political grounds. That is not acceptable to the Democrats. It is particularly unacceptable in relation to the parliamentary clerks. As we all know, they occupy a unique position within the Public Service structure. We can see no reason for them to be denied access to those relevant provisions in the Workplace Relations Act.