NSW IR bill clears upper house hurdle

The NSW government's contentious public sector wage changes have all but passed the upper house, after the coalition took the extraordinary step of gagging filibustering MPs.
The coalition on Saturday made use of a provision not used in 105 years to gag the Greens and Labor MPs who had dragged debate on its industrial relations bill into a fourth day.
The government then put further pressure on the upper house to come to a vote on the bill by restricting debate on 200-odd Labor and Greens amendments, and threatening lockouts to prevent them leaving the chamber.
After a committee process lasting all day, in which the only successful amendment was one from the Shooters Party exempting local government workers, a final vote on the bill was adjourned to the next sitting day on June 14.
The legislation will pass the Legislative Council with the support of the Shooters Party and Christian Democrat MPs, then be sent to the government-controlled lower house.
In a statement issued after the adjournment, Premier Barry O'Farrell said the passing of the bill on all but a technicality "would help bring costs under control and enable more money to be spent on services".
"We have taken a significant step towards bringing the state's finances under control while protecting fair wage increases for public servants," Mr O'Farrell said.
Roads Minister Duncan Gay, the leader of government business who ordered the gagging of the upper house, admitted it was a "historic step" to invoke standing order 99 for the first time since 1906 and force the debate into the committee process.
The government had no choice because of the "cowboy tactics, juvenile antics" of Labor and Greens MPs, whose filibustering tactics constituted an abuse of parliament costing taxpayers more than $300,000, Mr Gay said.
"If each of those members had been restrained enough to use an hour to an hour-and-a-half (to debate the bill), there was more than enough time for all them to do it," Mr Gay told reporters.
"They were playing games... yet it cost the parliament nearly half-a-million dollars."
Mr Gay denied debate on the bill had been shut down entirely, saying the committee process still allowed MPs to have their say.
"We're not shutting them down, we're giving them a chance to analyse the legislation rather than having boys and girls games with who can speak the longest," he said.
Outraged Labor and Greens MPs cried foul over the use of standing order 99 and the restriction of debate during the committee process.
Greens MP David Shoebridge, who spoke for almost six hours on Thursday night in an attempt to delay a vote on the bill, said the government had "broken a century-long tradition of free and open debate in the NSW upper house".
Speaking to 400 public sector workers outside state parliament on Saturday, Opposition Leader John Robertson said the government wanted to avoid scrutiny.
"They shut down debate because they don't want the house of review to conduct the level of scrutiny that we want to place on the bill to expose how bad this bill is," Mr Robertson told the rally.
The industrial bill will give the government the power to stipulate wages and conditions for public servants, and require the Industrial Relations Commission to consent to its policy.
Unions, the Labor opposition and the Greens said the bill would give the government unprecedented powers to slash wages and conditions.
The coalition argues its bill only enforces the former Labor government's own 2.5 per cent cap on wage increases, unless savings are found.
Unions NSW secretary Mark Lennon said the government would be held to account for its industrial changes.
"Community anger is growing and our campaign will now intensify," he promised.