Page 4163 - Week 14 - Wednesday, 23 October 1991
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Mr Humphries asked me what the difference was, and I am going through the process of telling him, giving him a little bit of a lesson in consultation and industrial relations. My response to his question deals with those issues for which Labor is famous - that is, getting on with the trade union movement, getting on with delivering better services to the people of Australia, and getting on with more efficient management in our hospital system - something which the former Government could not come to grips with.
They are the fundamental differences between Labor and the Liberal Opposition. We will be dealing with staffing issues as they come up in the budget context, and we will be dealing with them in the way that I have outlined. That is where we are different from the Alliance.
MR HUMPHRIES: I ask the Minister a supplementary question. Does he have any policy at all for the staffing of nursing homes run by the ACT Government other than, "We will talk to the unions"?
MR BERRY: We certainly do have a policy on staffing for nursing homes in the ACT, but it is not one of confrontation. It is certainly not a staffing policy which is based on the crazy industrial relations ideas which were announced today in a press release from the office of Mr Humphries, the ACT Deputy Liberal Leader. The Liberals want to go back into the 1890s with their industrial relations policies. They want to turn back the clock.
Labor is not going to do that anywhere across its administration. Labor will deliver its staffing levels, at a rate consistent with the budget requirements, and we will do it in a sensible industrial relations environment. At the end of the day we will secure broad agreement from the trade union movement, and we will deliver better health services as a result.
Ms Follett: I ask that further questions be placed on the notice paper, Mr Speaker.
Draft Territory Plan
MR WOOD: Mr Speaker, I indicate to Mr Moore, in response to his question earlier, that the Planning Authority will give two copies of the documents I mentioned to the peak bodies of the non-profit groups he asked about.
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