Page 178 - Week 01 - Thursday, 9 April 1992
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MR DE DOMENICO: I have not finished yet. Do not smile, because I tell you that you will be - - -
Mr Lamont: Under a Liberal Treasurer.
MR DE DOMENICO: Oh, my dear! Come on! The Auditor-General said:
... illegal payments of meal allowances to workshop staff. These payments had previously been reported by the Commonwealth Auditor-General ...
It goes on:
Removal of this illegality is estimated to save the taxpayer $110,000 p.a. (At an interest rate of 14 percent, this equates to a capital saving of some $800,000).
He said this in April last year.
Mr Wood: Who was the Government then?
MR DE DOMENICO: The Alliance Government was in power then, Mr Wood. Thank you very much for reminding me of that. Since June or July of last year, of course, we have had a Labor Government and Mr Connolly has been the Minister for Urban Services, although it is sometimes difficult to find out who is really responsible for industrial relations. When I sought to speak to Mr Wadsworth yesterday I asked the Minister for Urban Services, quite rightly, "Do you mind if I speak to Mr Wadsworth on an industrial relations matter?". But, Madam Speaker, what did he say? He said, "No, you cannot speak to Mr Wadsworth because really Mr Westende is the shadow transport Minister". I said, "Listen, I do not want to talk to Mr Wadsworth about transport matters. I want to talk to him about industrial relations matters". Mr Connolly said, "No, no, no; I refuse you access".
Mr Lamont: You should have gone to Mr Berry.
MR DE DOMENICO: Thank you, Mr Lamont, for reminding me. I then went to speak to Mr Berry because I was told by the Chief Minister the day before that, really, the Industrial Relations Minister in this Territory is Mr Berry. Naturally, being inexperienced in this sort of thing and being a politician, I walked up to Mr Berry and said, "Mr Berry, can I please talk to you about industrial relations matters concerning ACTION?". Do you know what Mr Berry said? He said, "Oh, it has nothing to do with me. That is Mr Connolly's responsibility". I said, "But listen, why therefore are you the Industrial Relations Minister?". He said, "Oh, no; if they want me to involve myself, they will ask me. No-one has asked me yet; so there is nothing I can do about it. It is Mr Connolly's problem". So, there we go.
Anyway, we now assume, because the front page of the Canberra Times tells us this morning, that it is really Mr Connolly who is responsible for the industrial relations practices at ACTION. So, we have established that. All I can say, therefore, is that I smell a rodent. This morning, thanks to Peter Clack, who is allowed to speak to anyone he chooses, fortunately, unlike members of the Opposition, I find out the dreadful truth. If you make a mistake that is so
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