Page 25 - Week 01 - Tuesday, 22 February 1994
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Madam Speaker, Mr Kaine is confused about what is occurring with the change to a separate ACT public service. He is confused about the difference between a legal authority, an employing authority, and micro-economic reform. That is the fact of the matter. Mr Kaine is also confused in his own analysis of what is going on. He has accused me of putting the emphasis on mechanics. Well, yes; when I am undertaking an exercise aimed at changing the employing authority, Mr Kaine, I am dealing in mechanics. Let us have no doubt about that. He has accused me of lacking innovation, vision and the will to change. He has said that there is no structural or other change. He has criticised that, as it is his right to do, Madam Speaker.
Of course, what Mr Kaine has not done is come forward with one single concrete reform that he would put forward in similar circumstances. We have heard from him nothing but empty rhetoric, and very confused rhetoric at that. Madam Speaker, I believe that in public comment on the public service I have said a great deal about what sort of a public service it is. Mr Kaine is quite wrong on the lack of consultation. I believe that I have previously reported to this Assembly on the forums that have involved the groups that Mr Kaine has accused me of ignoring. I do appreciate the significance of this step.
Madam Speaker, I would like to add to the comments that I made last week about the nature of the new ACT public service. Rather than go over the same ground again, I will address my remarks today to some other issues. I would like to say that the main purpose of the Public Sector Management Bill, which will be before Mr Kaine's committee next month, is to allow us to run our own show. But it will do more than that. It will give us the framework and the flexibility to embark on further major public sector reform. It will open up the enterprise bargaining agenda further and allow the public service to respond and adapt to new ways of doing things without having to argue for the Commonwealth to agree to that change, which is the current situation.
The new Bill is about improving responsiveness and accountability, without which the Government and democracy cannot work. It is very much also about equity for our employees and, particularly, equal employment opportunity. The public sector in the ACT is a trendsetter in this area, so public sector reform is one of the driving forces behind our goal of greater social justice. Our agenda is also about service, and that is service to the community. Madam Speaker, that probably does sound simplistic, a matter of mechanics as Mr Kaine might say; but if a public service does not actually serve the public there is absolutely no point in having one.
I would like to list some of the specific reforms that will be contained in the Public Sector Management Bill. There will be, first of all, a clear and up-front statement of values on which public administration is to be based. That has been the subject of a public forum that did have representation from the community sector, from the unions, from business and so on. That up-front statement will be complemented by principles of administration that build on those values. There will be an explicit statement of the behaviour that we expect from our own public employees, and this will be supported by disciplinary provisions. It will include an explicit prohibition on sexual harassment.
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