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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1995 Week 7 Hansard (19 October) . . Page.. 1865 ..

MR HUMPHRIES (continuing):

such a strange device, I think he is giving the Government no credit, and the Scrutiny of Bills Committee even less credit for its intelligence and being able to see its way round that kind of device. Mr Speaker, I do not expect a problem. Members will not see this sort of thing happening very often, but I would certainly hope that they do not feel that that is a problem to be dealt with in any particularly difficult fashion.

Amendments agreed to.

Remainder of Bill, as amended, agreed to.

Bill, as amended, agreed to.

Sitting suspended from 12.20 to 2.30 pm

QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE

Chief Executive Officers - Contracts

MS FOLLETT: My question without notice is to the Chief Minister. Mrs Carnell, this morning on ABC radio you were asked a question about whether you would make public the contract of the CEO of the Chief Minister's Department, and you said, "At this stage John Walker does not have a contract". On 10 October you spoke to the Canberra Times Assembly reporter, and I quote from the front page of the Canberra Times of 11 October:

Chief Minister Kate Carnell said the head of the ACTGS, John Walker, was on contract, and had been in his previous positions in NSW under both Labor and Liberal Governments, giving the lie to the claim that public-service career paths would abruptly end under the changes.

I seek leave to table that Canberra Times article.

Leave granted.

MS FOLLETT: I ask Mrs Carnell: Which of those statements was the truth - your statement this morning or your earlier statement to the Canberra Times? In effect, I am asking: Who is giving the lie in this case, and why have you attempted to mislead the Canberra community on this matter?

MRS CARNELL: I am sorry that I cannot give this Assembly an absolute undertaking that the Canberra Times will never ever misquote any of us here, but the comment I made this morning was very much the case. As Ms Follett would know, the current Public Sector Management Act does not allow us to put our chief executive officers onto contracts. There is no way under the current Act we could do so. When Mr Walker applied for and got the job we were very keen to put him onto a contract because,

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