Page 3725 - Week 12 - Thursday, 21 October 1993
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Of course, if overtime is being worked when it is unnecessary, a responsible government obviously has an obligation to look at whether that overtime should be worked. The situation is that we have an oversupply of mechanics and an undersupply of work, and I could no longer justify paying people to work overtime when there was no work to be done.
Mrs Carnell: They have done none.
MR CONNOLLY: So we should be doing that, Mrs Carnell, should we? You disagree with that decision; is that right? You think we did wrong there? Spend more, spend more!
Mr Lamont: She does not know what she thinks.
MR CONNOLLY: I know that she knows very little, Mr Lamont, but there is always hope. In relation to the drivers, there are not significant amounts of overtime being worked, other than after hours on Saturdays or on Sundays. If we said to the drivers, and we could, that they would not work overtime, we could do that without breaching an award and there would be no buses running after hours on Saturdays or on Sundays. That would obviously massively impact on the community. So we are not going to do that. What we are going to do is work with the drivers, with the workers, to achieve very dramatic change. We have the runs on the board; unlike you, who failed. The Liberals' rhetoric is tough - "Let's get tough; let's abolish archaic work practices"; all of this nonsense. When you were in government, when you had the opportunity, you were a dismal failure.
MRS CARNELL: I ask a supplementary question, Madam Speaker. Noting the report of the Industry Commission into urban transport, does the Minister consider it best practice for drivers to drive, on average, four to five hours for every eight-hour shift?
MR CONNOLLY: Madam Speaker, she keeps coming back for more. The better practice will be when we introduce part-time drivers, but for the moment the award requires us to pay for a standard working week. During that standard eight-hour shift - it is a bit less, but we will call it an eight-hour shift - one would hardly expect the drivers to be driving for seven hours and 55 minutes. You would have exhausted and worn-out drivers.
The public transport system in the ACT, as indeed in any city in Australia, tends to have peak periods. Mrs Carnell may not be aware of this, but most people tend to travel to work between 8 o'clock and 9 o'clock in the morning and most people tend to travel back from work between about 5.00 pm and 6.00 pm. Most young people go to school between about 8.00 am and 9.00 am and most young people leave school between about 4.00 pm and 5.00 pm. Therefore, we tend to have busy periods in the morning and busy periods in the afternoon. That is when the drivers are driving flat out. During the middle of the day there is considerably lower demand for our buses. The Liberals, I think, are aware of that, because they keep putting out press releases saying, "The buses are half empty during the middle of the day".
Mr De Domenico: No, empty.
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