Page 2545 - Week 10 - Tuesday, 13 October 1992
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people now accept that they have to do things differently and to do things more smartly. People in that industrial relations environment are more creative about the way they deliver services to the community and there is a clear understanding that we are in a period of change. That approach has been created.
The incident which was reported in the Canberra Times recently was unfortunate, but I think Mr Stevenson is wrong to say that the situation is getting worse. In fact it is much better now because there is a very clear direction from the Government and that will create an atmosphere of better cooperation. It has been working up to this point. That is not to say that any plan that is put in place does not occasionally have a minor breakdown, as occurred in the case of the event that was recently reported. Madam Speaker, I think we are moving along the correct path. We are promoting cooperation between the services with a view to better utilisation of personnel and equipment in the provision of very important services which are required by the people of the ACT, and we intend to continue to sponsor that approach.
MR KAINE (Leader of the Opposition) (3.54): I think this is an historic moment. Members present might savour it. I agree with what Mr Berry just said. This is probably the only time in the life of this Assembly that I will be able to say that.
Mr Lamont: That is only because you have been away for a week and you have not had time to make anything up yet.
MR KAINE: I correct you, Mr Lamont; I have not been away for a week. I know that you missed me intensely while I was away, but I was not away for a week. Had I so chosen, I could have attended the Estimates Committee meetings on Thursday and Friday. I had people well versed and well qualified to do that, and I did not do so. Do not misunderstand that because I was not at the Estimates Committee I was not here. That would be incorrect.
To come back to the subject at hand, Madam Speaker, Mr Berry said - this is the thing with which I totally agree - that what we are talking about is a demarcation dispute. Nobody, as far as I am aware, is challenging the professionalism - whether they are firemen, whether they are police, or whether they are ambulance officers - of the people who attend and take care of accidents. I have not heard anybody challenge that and say that these people are not totally professional in what they do, and they serve the community well. All that has been reported in the last couple of days is a little tiff between two groups of people, both of whom think that they are the professionals and both of whom think that they ought to be able to take care of this particular problem, whatever it is. It is not a bad thing that they feel thoroughly professional and that each of them believe that they are best qualified to do the job. Perhaps it is great that we have two different organisations to do that. That is what it is about.
We are indeed in the middle of an evolutionary process. It is only a couple of years ago that the Alliance Government put into place the arrangements that exist today. Before that it was a free-for-all. It was a competition as to who got there first. We thought that we needed something better than that. In hindsight, it is not the best possible arrangement. You cannot argue that. It cannot be said to be the best possible arrangement when you still have groups of professional people arguing with each other about who is going to deliver the service. So, we still do not have the best solution.
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