Page 2590 - Week 09 - Thursday, 8 August 1991
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Mr Collaery, in his speech, spoke a lot about productivity and was pleased to see that word crop up so often in the ministerial statement. I think great improvements have been made in the Commonwealth Public Service, and indeed in the local public service which stems from the Commonwealth Public Service, since I had anything to do with it and any experiences in it.
From time to time from about 1970 onwards, I served in the Commonwealth Public Service, initially with university holiday jobs and then in other varying capacities and in various departments. I would think that the old image of a public servant, colloquially and rather rudely called a shiny arse, has gone out the window a lot more than was the case 10 or 15 years ago. Instances of a lot of public servants in various departments not having very much to do have largely gone out the window.
I know many public servants. Indeed, in recent years I have seen in our own public service in the ACT very many public servants who work long, hard hours - a lot longer than the statutory hours which they are meant to work. The vast majority of our public servants are very dedicated people and some of them work incredibly long hours. I have known of public servants who have been overloaded and who have suffered some health problems as a result.
I think it is very important, when talking about a wages policy and when talking about our ACT Government Service, to ensure that there are relevant reviews to see that, firstly, the public service is productive and, secondly, that the workload is properly shared throughout the public service. The public service also, of course, has to be more efficient. As Mr Collaery quite correctly states, the biggest cost to the Territory is the wages bill.
That is very true, I think, of Australia as a whole. That is perhaps why, because of our still restricted work practices throughout the country - it probably does go back to the fears of the Depression; perhaps some of our work practices are indeed quite outmoded - we are slowly slipping behind some of the more advanced countries in our region, especially when one talks about the Asian-Pacific rim. We are unfortunately being seen as a rather poor relation in not being as able to compete as perhaps we were 10 years ago when some of the other countries had not caught up or, indeed, had surpassed us in terms of their productivity.
Of course, they have a different culture and part of that culture perhaps is a different attitude to work. That is something, I think, that we as a country have to address, not only for us to be the clever country but also to successfully compete into the twenty-first century. Of course, a lot of that does stem from our wage structure and our attitude to work.
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