The proposed amendments to the Local Government Act which were introduced to Parliament yesterday will have absolutely no effect on the pay and conditions of local government sector employees, Local Government Minister Don Page said today.

Mr Page said allegations from the United Services Union that workers’ entitlements would be “frozen” because of the NSW Government’s Local Government Amendment Bill were totally incorrect and based on inaccurate information.

“The proposed amendment to which the Union refers will not change the pay and conditions of workers in the local government sector at all – any suggestion to the contrary is just incorrect,” Mr Page said.

“The proposed amendment in the Bill returns to councils their status as `body corporate’, meaning they are corporations which will once again become eligible to apply for Federal Government funding, which was a move requested by the Local Government and Shires Associations,” Mr Page said.

“The amendment would remove councils’ status as `body politic’, which the previous NSW Labor government placed on them to protect them from the former federal industrial relations policy, Work Choices, which applied to corporations.

“With Work Choices now obsolete, that protection is no longer required, because after an agreement in 2009 between the previous NSW Government and the Federal Government, it was decided that under the new Federal industrial relations system, Fair Work Australia, the pay and conditions of NSW local government sector employees were to be considered part of the NSW industrial relations system and not the national one.

“So claims from the Union that redefining NSW councils as `bodies corporate’ would mean council employee entitlements would be transferred to the national system are just wrong.

“The proposed amendment will return councils’ ability to seek extra sources of funding through Federal Government channels as corporations, as they did prior to fears over Work Choices in years past, without changing any aspect of the current protections afforded to local government sector employees.

“The proposed amendment has the support of the LGSA, is an example of responsible government which is willing to listen and act, and is expected to lead to a more sustainable local government sector in the future – without changing any employee entitlements.”