Page 4660 - Week 15 - Thursday, 21 November 1991
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MR COLLAERY: I have a supplementary question. If that is the case, Mr Berry, if you do intend to apply the letter of the law, which, hopefully, will be passed today, will you then be taking up with the Forrest bowling club its restriction of having male playing members only?
MR BERRY: I wondered when we would get to the Forrest bowling club. I have never been in the Forrest bowling club; I do not know what its policies are. But if the Forrest bowling club or any other club, or any other person, for that matter, offends a piece of legislation which is passed by this Assembly, they will be required to observe the letter of the law as determined by the Assembly.
Telephone Services
MR MOORE: My question is addressed to Mr Connolly, as Minister for Urban Services, and it is another question of which I provided some notice. My question refers to the program of installation of new telephone systems which is intended to save the Government more than $1m. Will any telephone or radio operators in Health or Urban Services lose their current positions? Will they still have a job? I understand that the installation process has already begun. Have the contracts with Telecom been finalised, and were they finalised before the start of the work? I think I added a supplementary question. Is it true that the sharps hot line has been staffed for a third time by people contracted to Telecom who have no specialised knowledge of AIDS other than the location of the needle exchange?
MR CONNOLLY: I thank Mr Moore for his question and again I thank him for giving some notice when he seeks detailed information on a detailed question, because it allows Ministers to respond promptly and accurately. My answer to Mr Moore's question is that the new telephone system will provide for the rationalisation of telephone operator services across the whole of the ACT Government Service, thus reducing the cost of these services while improving the service to the public overall.
While some positions may be abolished as part of this process, no decisions have been made which would affect the jobs of telephone or radio operators in Health or Urban Services. The Government has made it clear that there will be no compulsory redundancies and any persons affected will be redeployed in accordance with the award provisions. The appropriate consultation process is presently going on.
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