Page 1505 - Week 06 - Tuesday, 18 May 1993
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economic and employment growth in the ACT, with the private sector playing an ever increasing role in our development. By continuing with the constructive relationship we have fostered between the public and private sectors, we will achieve the goals that we share for Canberra. I present a copy of this statement. I move:
That the Assembly takes note of the papers.
MR WESTENDE (3.26): Madam Speaker, the Chief Minister has just delivered, as she said herself, a very lengthy address. It was based mainly on recommendations to get EPACT involved with the business community. Whilst I have a list of the members of EPACT, who are eminently suitable people, I would draw the Chief Minister's attention to the fact that, of the 11 members listed, only two are actually engaged in business. Are we really serious about getting business community involvement? As the Chief Minister has just announced, 53 per cent of the people are engaged in private enterprise and 47 per cent in government. Does the Chief Minister not agree with me that that is somewhat of an imbalance?
If you are really serious about working with business - and, after all, I do have some experience in that regard - you start to get the so-called level playing field by getting involved people who are actually at the coalface and have experienced business at first hand. I wrote to the Chief Minister last week, before hearing this speech today, and pointed this out. Unless you have to put up your own money, make your own profits and keep your own profit and loss account, all the theory in the world will not prepare you sufficiently for what business is really all about. As I said, whilst I do agree with the Chief Minister that these are very eminent and very well-qualified people, they do not actually experience the cold hard facts of business. You really have to work for the dollar in order to earn it and to be able to advance your business.
I will also draw the Chief Minister's attention to the EPACT paper, "The ACT Youth Labour Market", of May 1992. How many of those recommendations, of which there were 18, have been accepted? I notice that in today's paper we have 28 recommendations. I might just mention recommendation No. 14 of that EPACT paper in 1992. It was:
The ACT Government investigate the deregulation of trading hours, to bring them at least into line with those in NSW (and Queanbeyan in particular).
This last year we have had three holidays that were observed in the ACT and not in New South Wales. So how hollow is, for instance, recommendation No. 14? Recommendation No. 15 was:
The Government refer the issue of penalty rates and associated award conditions, within the retail, hospitality and associated service industries, to its Industrial Relations Advisory Committee.
Where, Madam Speaker, is the answer from this Industrial Relations Advisory Committee? To the best of my knowledge, I have not seen any recommendation or any advice from that body. I would like to refer the Chief Minister to page 3 of her speech today and specifically to the establishment of the ACT Supply and Tender Agency. The Chief Minister would be aware that certain organisations
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