Page 4967 - Week 17 - Tuesday, 11 December 1990
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Mr Kaine: I withdraw that. He just keeps bending the truth a bit, Mr Speaker.
MR SPEAKER: That is a qualified withdrawal, Chief Minister. Please proceed, Mr Berry.
MR BERRY: I think you will have to do a bit better than that.
MR SPEAKER: Please withdraw.
Mr Kaine: I withdraw that.
MR SPEAKER: Thank you. Please proceed, Mr Berry.
MR BERRY: I seem to recall, with a sense of deja vu, that there was another instance of this, and we ended up with a short break in the Assembly so that people could settle down. I can see that we all learn, even the Chief Minister.
MR SPEAKER: We all learn, Mr Berry. Please proceed.
MR BERRY: That is an important issue for those workers who will be concerned and will be working in those Territory owned corporations. In closing, may I say that it is very disturbing that the Government has not been able to give to the trade union movement and to the community generally the guarantees that would satisfy those elements as to the propriety of its approach - I say propriety, in the industrial relations sense - on the corporatisation of these important ACT facilities. Unless the Government does that and is able to convince those trade unionists, then I believe that it will be some time before we will see a settling down of this position.
It is not good enough to merely corporatise. It is necessary, of course, to ensure that corporatisation not only delivers a better service to the people of the ACT but is not done at the expense of other Territorians. The workers in these organisations ought not be, if you like, screwed as a result of the corporatisation of organisations within the Territory. I think the Government stands warned about that issue. If it does not address those issues in the corporatisation of its facilities, then, of course, it will not work.
MR STEVENSON (8.20): I rise to mention the fact of the Bill being rushed through the Assembly. It was brought in on 29 November. As I have said before in the Assembly, this does not allow people in the ACT the time they should have for correct community consultation. It is one thing to talk about consultation. It is another thing to actually deliver.
It has been recently stated by the Labor Party that Bills are being brought on without sufficient time. That is quite correct. It was also mentioned in the Canberra Times
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