Page 2158 - Week 07 - Thursday, 16 June 1994
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The fact is that she failed, because all of the present ways that mobility between the two services can be achieved simply have not been delivered. She reneged on this promise, but fortunately we have been able to persuade the Federal coalition to move in the Senate to give former Commonwealth employees now working for the ACT a breathing space of two years in which they can apply to transfer back to the APS under section 50 provisions. This will be in addition to mobility on the basis of merit and will ensure that Commonwealth employees working in the ACT public service will have the same degree of mobility, over the next two years at least, as they do now. The Chief Minister could not deliver on this important promise.
Madam Speaker, unfortunately the Bill is a failure. What the Government should do is go and get the basics right. It needs to establish principles upon which to build a new public service, one that is a good public service to work in for those who are part of it but also one that Canberra can be proud of.
MS SZUTY (9.32): Madam Speaker, I have already spoken extensively about the report of the Select Committee on the Establishment of an ACT Public Service, but I would like to make a few brief comments in the light of what other speakers in this debate have said. Mr Kaine, in his remarks, expressed the view that widespread dissatisfaction about the Bill was being expressed by the Government's own employees. He actually read out a fairly substantial list of those government employees who are currently unhappy - the Public Sector Union, members of the ACT Government Service and the Commonwealth Public Service, APESMA - - -
Mr Kaine: The professional officers.
MS SZUTY: They are the ones, Mr Kaine. They are unhappy; the management of ACTEW are unhappy; the Director of Public Prosecutions people are unhappy; and the Legal Aid Commission people are unhappy. That is a quite lengthy list of people who are currently unhappy with the provisions of the Public Sector Management Bill as they stand. Mr Kaine also commented that it had been the Chief Minister's view that the Public Sector Management Bill was in fact immutable. This effectively contrasts with the number of Government amendments which have been proposed by the Chief Minister and which this Assembly is yet to address. Mr Kaine also made the very important point that a separate ACT public service is a very important and significant step for the ACT to be taking and is certainly a matter that we as an Assembly should get right.
Mr De Domenico, in his remarks, said that there were a number of issues that the Government and the Select Committee on the Establishment of an ACT Public Service had not had time to consider. I well recall the chairman of the select committee, Mr Kaine, saying that, due to the very short timeframe within which the committee needed to report to the Assembly, only the major issues pertaining to the Bill could be addressed and that it simply was not possible to address the Bill clause by clause.
Mr Moore, in his remarks, made two important points. He said that there were two primary issues in relation to the Public Sector Management Bill that he wanted to keep uppermost in his mind. The first of those was the issue of the transfer of Commonwealth public servants to the ACT. The second was the broader issue of public sector reform.
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