Page 2589 - Week 09 - Thursday, 8 August 1991
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
be tackled on a cultural basis. There needs to be a greater recognition that it is appropriate to move at a stage of a career into the private sector, and this Government needs to adopt certain buffer zones so that people are guaranteed of coming back into the public sector at a certain age.
I watched that work in France, where I lived for a number of years. People came into government but left after about 10 years, knowing that they could come back. They had a guaranteed place, all other things considered, 10 years hence. That was actively encouraged in the French government service. They had a long process of decentralising public servants in and out of areas and the rest. It was elitist and there were many quite unacceptable aspects of their government service, but that was an aspect that I thought was good.
I believe that many people would find a natural home in the private sector. This antipathy that exists constantly in the marketplace between the private sector and the public sector, with the private sector saying that the bureaucrats do not understand reality and have never been exposed to the cold harsh light of reality, would be found to be the nonsense it is. I have worked in both sectors and I think you can meet competent, able, dedicated, informed people in both areas. You can meet gross inefficiency and laziness in the private sector as much as you can meet it in the government sector.
I believe that it would be good to hear from Mr Berry, given his background in industrial relations, just exactly where we are going to see the Labor Government bite the bullet, given their relationship with the trade union movement, and get all the groups together to see what we can do about the biggest drain on our resources at the moment - high wage costs and indeterminate productivity in significant areas of the ACT Government Service. There is great dedication. It could be the way they are led; it could be the way they are structured; it may have nothing to do with individual performance; but I believe that we need to see a more comprehensive statement in due course, as soon as this Government, if it can, gets control of the reins of government.
MR STEFANIAK (12.14): I listened with interest to what I regarded as a very good speech by Mr Collaery, who went through a lot of very relevant points which are very pertinent as the ACT and Australia head towards the year 2000. It was a shame that the arbitration commission did not find in favour of enterprise bargaining. I was delighted in reading through the speech by Mr Berry in relation to the wages policy to apply to the ACT Government Service, to note that there are a lot of points there on which the Liberal Party agrees with him. I think that, in relation to enterprise bargaining and the need for it, we as a party have seen that for many years.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .