Page 1444 - Week 06 - Tuesday, 1 May 1990
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referring almost universally to the leaders of the union movement - who have always faced ballots for their position - as "union bosses". Employer representatives are referred to in rather more flattering terms.
I am proud, Mr Speaker, to have been involved in the trade union movement as secretary and then president of the Australian Government Lawyers Association - a small white-collar union, true, but one that takes seriously its responsibilities to its membership. I will be keeping a close eye on public service conditions of employment in Canberra. It is easy to criticise public servants as fat cats and easy to make cheap political points by looking at public service conditions, but I would warn the Government that, unless we are very careful to maintain at least parity between ACT public servants and Commonwealth public servants, in the environment of Canberra where the Commonwealth is the dominant employer we will find it increasingly difficult to attract and retain quality public servants to provide the administration of the ACT to implement the reforms that we seek.
Mr Speaker, this party stood on a promise of responsible government for Canberra. For six months it delivered on that promise. It provided a government that was open and accessible and that consulted the community fully before decisions were announced. Sadly, we no longer enjoy that consultation and cooperation with the community, but we will see how long that lasts. Mr Speaker, instead of an open and consultative government we now have a "conservative, Rally, no government" government. Disraeli described a conservative government as an organised hypocrisy. Today we must wonder at the level of organisation.
MR MOORE (8.17): Mr Speaker, I now present my response to the Kaine budget strategy. The inadequacy of the Kaine budget strategy lies in the fourth goal of the strategy given on page 3 of the document. As part of the introduction, the Chief Minister stated:
The Commonwealth has spent large sums on facilities, roads, parks and the like, leaving the ACT with the financial burden of operating and maintaining them.
The crux of what the Chief Minister is saying is that we have inherited a system which is overcapitalised. We are well off in capital terms but our recurrent situation is very poor indeed. The analogy is well drawn with the home owning family who have purchased and extended an expensive house and can only just keep up with their own budget. I am sure many of us know that feeling, and if you do not then surely you lack the empathy for so many Canberrans who are in this position. The choice to be made is similar for us in our budget. Does the family now go on to extend further - for example, by building another garage - simply because they have always spent a certain proportion of the
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