Page 3517 - Week 11 - Thursday, 14 October 1993
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So not just supporters of the Opposition but, seemingly, even the Government's own supporters once again are reiterating over and over again what we know - that there is very little, if any, public consultation, important consultation, with important community groups. It is not being said by us; it is being said by Mr Anforth. Madam Speaker, I am sincerely hopeful that the committee's work will aid this process which, in the past, has been sadly neglected by the Government. Once again, Mr Anforth's letter, which I have quoted verbatim by the way, is - - -
Mr Berry: Misquoted.
MR DE DOMENICO: No, not misquoted. In fact, Madam Speaker, I will seek leave, after I finish, to table the letter. I know from the budget papers, Madam Speaker, that $460,000 has been spent so far on the separation issue; yet there has been no agreement, as far as I am aware, or no formal agreement, on important issues like superannuation, mobility, industrial democracy and enterprise bargaining. The committee was aware that there was supposedly going to be a meeting - - -
Mr Lamont: Yes, there has been. You do not understand.
MR DE DOMENICO: Mr Lamont, once again I look forward to your contributions to all these debates. You have made not one contribution today. Madam Speaker, he has continued to interject, usually in a nonsensical way, and is yet to make any contribution at all today to any debate that has ensued in this Assembly.
These are four tough issues, Madam Speaker. As I mentioned before, the Government's alliances with certain sections of the Canberra community will make it very difficult for negotiations from time to time. There has been a lot of rhetoric, a lot of pleasant statements of goodwill and intentions of excellence, which I share and commend, and the Opposition shares and commends; but there seems to be precious little else as yet. The time is nigh for the Government to take this issue and form and shape it to achieve what it intends. There is a need to see real action.
We know that negotiations with the Public Sector Union and other unions are under way. Under discussion are items like the centralised management structure. But has the Government, for example, taken into account that many agencies work better with their own management functions? For example, Madam Speaker, ACTION buses runs its own rostering, scheduling and pays, and saves time and money doing this. Will a centralised management structure take into account systems which are already well established and running efficiently? Will such negotiations take into account that a lot of the work carried out by the ACT Government Service is of a municipal or local nature? How much has the Chief Minister's task force liaised with local and municipal government associations, or have negotiations been carried out solely with the local unions?
I note that a seminar took place, with all sorts of government agencies and unions invited. One interesting invitee and attendee was the New South Wales Chamber of Commerce and Industry; but nowhere did I see in the list of invitees, for example, the Canberra Chamber of Commerce and Industry or the Canberra Business Council. Yet, here we are discussing the separation of the ACT public service - - -
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