Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . .

Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1995 Week 9 Hansard (23 November) . . Page.. 2402 ..

MRS CARNELL (Chief Minister and Treasurer) (5.56): Mr Speaker, I rise fairly briefly to answer a couple of the points that have been made. Many people have spoken about the areas of the Chief Minister's Department that have been phased out. I think it is important to speak about some of the new areas, such as the strategic policy office. As Mr Moore and Ms Tucker have said, we have not done very well in the past in the ACT in producing a strategic approach to the things we do; bringing together the approaches that we take in various parts of the public service and achieving some consistency across those areas. That runs right through our reform program. Our reform program is based upon changing our budgeting approach from an inputs base to an outcomes base, which is right in line with Ms Tucker's comments.

I, too, would believe that we had failed in what we have set out to do if we did not manage to achieve a proper outcomes base for this whole Government. We need to know what we are achieving, why we are achieving it, and how we have achieved it. I think that runs right through the comments that Mr Moore and Ms Tucker have made. I think they are very appropriate comments, and we will certainly be judging our performance on those things as well.

With regard to performance indicators, they have been an ongoing problem for government since self-government in 1989. This morning, if we had not changed the agenda somewhat, I would have presented the Government's response to the Auditor-General's comments on performance indicators. That will be done at our next sitting. We have already done an awful lot of work on performance indicators; ones that mean something; ones that do not just say to do a better job and do not tell us how to measure that, or what that actually means; ones that mean something, that can be measured and can be assessed by this Assembly and, for that matter, by the community. I agree totally with the comments that have been made, and they will be the basis of our government reform.

(Quorum formed)

MR BERRY (7.02): Mr Speaker, I want to speak on Division 40 because of the broad effect it has on the community. I want, first of all, to focus on industrial relations because of the shabby way in which industrial relations has been treated in the Assembly. We know now that a consultant with some connections with the right wing of politics has been hauled in.

Mrs Carnell: He was with the left wing. He has never been a member of the Liberal Party.

MR BERRY: The Liberal Party is not the only organisation to be full of right wingers, Mrs Carnell. Of course, this will affect the way that industrial relations goes in the future. We have a commitment in the labour movement to the right to collectively bargain and for unions to represent the work force. Given the emphasis which the Carnell Government has put on individual contracts, it is quite clear that industrial relations in the Australian Capital Territory is going to be an issue of major concern throughout the life of the conservative Government opposite. The issue of individual contracts is one that emerges.

Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . .