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Mr De Domenico: But they have the same benefits as everybody else in the service.

MR BERRY: The difficulty is that their working conditions are entirely different. Whether they can transport their skills into another area of work in the event of an injury is a somewhat difficult question. But that is an issue that would be - - -

Mr Moore: It is a bigger challenge.

MR BERRY: It is a bit of a challenge to work through and to come up with some sort of an arrangement there. I know that the trade unions will be interested in it. I trust that they will be fully involved in it. There will be a lot of interest in this matter, not only from the ACT Government - because it will have to assist the committee with the information that it requires - but also, I expect, from Comcare, because it will want to argue - - -

Mr De Domenico: Yes. They want to keep their jobs, or keep providing us with the service.

MR BERRY: They will want to argue a case for the service that they have been providing, and so they ought to; but I agree that from time to time these things have to be reviewed. As I said in an earlier debate, you never say “never”, because there are some things that do possibly need change. This may or may not be one of them. I trust that, at the completion of this inquiry, we are able to come up with an outcome that pleases everybody. Once again, I thank members for their support.

Motion, as amended, agreed to.

PERSONAL EXPLANATIONS

MS FOLLETT (Leader of the Opposition): Mr Speaker, I again seek leave, under standing order 46, to make a personal explanation.

MR SPEAKER: Proceed.

MS FOLLETT: Thank you, Mr Speaker. I hope that members will bear with me for just a few minutes on what I believe is an important matter. In question time, the subject arose again of the attitude of the previous Government - the Government which I led - to the accommodation of the Department of the Environment, Land and Planning at Gungahlin. Mr Speaker, this matter is important to me because I feel that some of the statements made by both Mrs Carnell and Mr Humphries have called my integrity into question. I want to say at the outset that it has been my habit in this place, where I have made a mistake, to be very rapid in correcting that mistake in full and to the best of my ability. As a Minister for some six years and taking questions without notice, I know that very often in the heat of question time you can give an answer which later needs some modification or correction, and I was very quick to do that. It is, in my view, the honourable course to take and in no way detracts from one's performance as a member.

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