Publication:Sea Talk Spring 2008/New advocate for Navy employment conditions
Reserve legal officer CMDR Stephen Cornish, with more than two decades of Service experience as well work in industrial advocacy, has assumed the role of Director of Navy Employment Conditions (DNEC) in Navy Personnel and Training branch. Serving on two years continuous full time service, CMDR Cornish expects his background to be invaluable in advising on and developing industrial policy for the Navy and the ADF.
As well as having degrees in engineering and law he has an MBA specialising in industrial relations and personnel management. Since transferring to the Reserve from the PNF after 23 years in both the Army and Navy, CMDR Cornish has (in addition to fulfilling a diverse number of ANR roles), run a Tasmanian Timber Industry Association, been a member of the Tasmanian Forest Industry Training Board and the Tasmanian Forest and Forest Industries Council and been the executive officer and in house legal adviser for a national agricultural company.
For the past 4½ years he has been an industrial practitioner covering the north west and west coasts of Tasmania and the Bass Strait Islands. While industrial matters were a feature of the industry association, it was the core business for the Tasmanian Chamber of Commerce and Industry Ltd in NW Tasmania. CMDR Cornish was asked by the Chamber’s CEO to establish and develop an industrial practice to grow the business in the region.
As one of the two lawyers in the Chamber’s industrial team he played a key role in the operation of the business, and in particular the introduction of the WorkChoices legislation and the subsequent Rudd Government policies. He expects this experience will be invaluable in the development, benchmarking and implementation of future Navy pay cases such as the graded other ranks pay structure (GORPS).
As well as being an experienced advocate, CMDR Cornish also advised a large number of clients ranging from small businesses through to major corporations covering manufacturing, mining, retail, hospitality, agriculture, forestry, fishing, transport, health care, sporting and social clubs to name a few on industrial and HR matters.
Many of those workplaces were unionised. He also had considerable involvement in community based organisations and local government and was active in union collective agreement negotiations for many regional councils, including Flinders Island where the scenery and fishing are world class and pristine and where the fishing rod was packed before the pen! What does this all mean for his role as DNEC? CMDR Cornish brings a fresh and current approach to Navy’s management of its people and will be a staunch advocate on their behalf.
