Page 1455 - Week 05 - Thursday, 13 May 1993
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EMERGENCY SERVICES
Debate resumed.
MR DE DOMENICO: Madam Speaker, let us have a look at why that inquiry was called and what it said. We are talking about 1986, under the ALP Minister, Mr Scholes. This is what the inquiry said:
The Brigade is now suffering from a legacy of neglect and deficient management. It was established as a separate organisation without the management and support structure required to operate independently and this was compounded by factors such as:
its failure to develop a proper definition and assignment of responsibilities;
inadequate training and staff development activities which might have improved its management capacity;
limited use of new technology;
generally poor relationships with other ACT emergency services;
its failure to substantiate funding needs and to use effectively the funds allocated to it; and
its failure to develop effective union-management consultative processes.
That was at a time when Mr Berry, the Minister sitting opposite, was the secretary of the Firefighters Union. The report went on - - -
Mr Connolly: There has been enormous change in the eight years since.
MR DE DOMENICO: You should have told us what happened, Mr Connolly. You did not do that.
Mr Connolly: You should have read the report that your Government tabled; that your Government implemented.
MR DE DOMENICO: Madam Speaker, Mr Connolly has had his chance, and he has had an extension also. Perhaps he should sit down and listen. I know that you do not like to hear these sorts of things, but sit down and listen; you might learn something sometimes. The report went on to say:
While the Brigade's principal failings are those of management, it must also be said that the Union has not always acted constructively or in the best interests of the Brigade or of the ACT community.
They are not the words of anybody except the inquiry, Mr Connolly, commissioned - - -
Mr Connolly: In 1986. What did the 1992 one say?
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