Page 3518 - Week 11 - Thursday, 14 October 1993
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Mr Lamont: That was the list of attendees.
MR DE DOMENICO: No invitations were sent out to any of the local business representatives. Obviously we have the opportunity, Madam Speaker, to create a unique and excellent public service tailored to the needs and idiosyncrasies of the ACT, to the delivery of service. We should grasp this opportunity and not be diverted by the temptation to copy structures which may be okay from time to time for the Federal function but which are out of place in the local arena. Federal structures for the public service may not be suitable or appropriate for the governance of a city-state like the ACT. Madam Speaker, all of these factors must be considered when preparing the legislation. The Government must be both careful and bold, and I am sure that it will be, in its drafting of this legislation which will affect all of our public servants, the majority of whom are committed, hardworking and experienced.
It will also be vitally important to get the community's input when considering the ACT public service. It is, after all, the ratepayers who fund the Government, and their needs, opinions and expectations have to be considered and addressed. The Government must make sure that it gets the balance right between the ratepayer and the public servant. One should not be sacrificed in consideration of the other. That is a difficult task, I must admit, for any government, noting the great number of ratepayers who are public servants. The Government has to get it right, and this Assembly has to get it right. There is no room for the messy and embarrassing argy-bargies, for example, that we witnessed at the beginning of the year when two Ministers argued over the concept of enterprise bargaining within ACTEW. Now is the time to make sure that that sort of thing does not happen again.
It is important, Madam Speaker, that the legislation, while dealing with these complex issues, is also simple and concise. The committee was delighted to hear from some of the people in the Chief Minister's area who suggested that one of the Acts of parliament that we should be looking at, in terms of best practice and concise and plain English, is the legislation in South Australia. I think all members of this Assembly would welcome this legislation being simple and concise. It must be easily and readily understood by each agency. The best scenario would be to set overriding principles, but to allow room for each agency to adopt ground rules and values which are appropriate to its operations. Therefore, Madam Speaker, the separate functions and total unity of the ACT Government Service would be recognised and an appropriate framework would be provided for the Government in each department. Madam Speaker, finally, the legislation must recognise the nature of self-government. The legislation must reflect the reality that it is the elected members of this Assembly, or most of them, who have the responsibility for governing the ACT, and not an entrenched and sometimes inflexible bureaucracy.
MR LAMONT (4.22): I take the opportunity that was so generously offered by Mr De Domenico. Madam Speaker, the Select Committee on the Establishment of an ACT Public Service has, as Mr De Domenico has outlined, a fairly onerous task before it. The first of those tasks, it appears, unfortunately, is trying to educate Mr De Domenico. Mr De Domenico obviously has displayed an appalling lack of knowledge about the industrial process and the agreements which have been put into place and announced, firstly, by the Minister for Industrial Relations over the last three to four months in relation to questions such as enterprise bargaining
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