Page 2003 - Week 08 - Tuesday, 8 September 1992
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I think, Mr Humphries, that even you would agree that the past 12 months or so, in relation to negotiations within the hospital system, particularly on industrial issues, have been very successful. It has been a very successful year not only for the administration but also for the unions. We have all cooperated pretty well in an industrial climate which is designed, not only from the Government's point of view but also from the workers' point of view, to deliver better hospital services in the public sector to the people of the ACT.
Electoral System
MS SZUTY: Madam Speaker, my question without notice is to the Chief Minister, Ms Follett. The ACT Government advertised on 17 September for a senior executive officer to investigate and prepare legislation for the introduction of a Hare-Clark electoral system for the ACT. Could the Chief Minister inform the Assembly of the timetable to enable the completion of this task, including community consultation on the proposed boundaries?
MS FOLLETT: I thank Ms Szuty for the question, Madam Speaker, and I think it is indeed a timely question. I have heard Mr Humphries and various esteemed representatives of the media discussing this issue. I have been wondering when either Mr Humphries or one of those esteemed representatives of the media might see fit to ask the Government the question. It has come to Ms Szuty to do that and I am happy to reply to her.
Ms Szuty is correct in saying that the Government has been advertising for a senior officer grade B position to assist in this task. That advertisement was initially placed in the Commonwealth Gazette on 20 August. It was quite some time ago that the first advertisement was placed. There have been a couple of further advertisements, at least one of which was in error. The position was not advertised correctly. Madam Speaker, recruitment for that position will proceed with all due haste. The position was correctly advertised in the Gazette on 3 September. There has been a hiccup, for which I apologise.
It would be quite wrong, Madam Speaker, for anyone to draw the conclusion that that is the only action that the Government is taking on this matter. It is not. We wish to recruit an officer with some expertise to help to put the Hare-Clark system in place, but as a government we take the responsibility to bring forward the appropriate legislation and to do so in a timely fashion. I rather regret that there has been some ill-informed debate on the matter; but I would like to make it clear that work has been proceeding on this issue, and in particular on the framework of the legislation, including a number of the very complex questions that arise, which Mr Humphries alluded to in his public statement. Some of those complexities concern the legal issues associated with the relationship of the ACT law with the self-government legislation. That is not a clear matter and work on that has been going on for some time. Moreover, my own department has seconded an officer from the Attorney-General's Department to assist with the legalities of those issues. So that has been under way.
I would like, in response to Ms Szuty's question, to outline the Government's timetable for making sure that we deliver on the promise, which I have taken very seriously, to implement the community's very clearly stated view on the new electoral system for the ACT. The target, Madam Speaker, is to have the
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