Page 676 - Week 03 - Wednesday, 21 March 1990
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Mr Kaine talks of an impressive record of achievement, indicating the dedication and commitment of his Ministers. Perhaps he is referring to their dedication and commitment to social functions like we saw last night, instead of the Assembly business and public service that Mr Collaery chatted about earlier on. Clearly, they just cut short the business of the Assembly, as Mr Jensen said, to attend functions. Do not tell me they could not run the business of the Assembly - - -
Mr Jensen: You did it as well. We were not as churlish as you, Mr Berry.
MR BERRY: But we always did it by agreement and not at the expense of the business of members opposite. According to the Chief Minister, his Government colleagues have mostly applied themselves to introducing initiatives with the lives and well being of Canberra residents uppermost in their minds. The people of Canberra could be forgiven for questioning what, if anything, is uppermost in their minds, although Mr Kaine is obviously more interested in higher salaries because he has already indicated that he is going to make a claim for higher salaries for those people who make up his Government.
There have been no initiatives which improve the lives of the people of Canberra. There have been only threats and rumours which affect the lives and well being of these people. Mr Kaine counts as an achievement of his Government the review of the ACT public sector, a razor gang or machete mob, as his mate Mr Duby described it.
The sole purpose of this review is to cut the employment opportunities of the people of Canberra and we all know that that will lead to cuts in services. I must say that Mr Duby has clearly demonstrated his inability to come to terms with what he is supposed to be doing. The demonstration by the firefighters, which was caused by Mr Duby's refusal to negotiate with them and which was identified by the Industrial Relations Commission, led to the Government's being criticised for its inaction over the matter.
Mr Duby: It was not.
MR BERRY: It was criticised.
Mr Duby: It was not.
MR BERRY: It was criticised - you want to read the documents if you have the time or the energy to have a look at them. The Government was found out for failing to negotiate with those workers and has had a timetable set to ensure that it complies with reasonable industrial relations practices.
On running through Mr Collaery's so-called achievements, I believe that the only initiative which has originated with
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