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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1995 Week 10 Hansard (7 December) . . Page.. 2794 ..

MR MOORE (continuing):

This morning I spoke to Mr Colin Miller of the Association of Professional Engineers, Scientists and Managers, who suggested that their association, their union, has more SES officers in its membership than the CPSU does. I also had a letter from the CPSU expressing concern about this piece of legislation. Mr Miller suggested to me that their association had no objections in principle to this legislation. In fact, they have been part of organising and working with governments around Australia in developing contracts. It is a quite interesting factor in this general debate that the majority of officers themselves and their representations are not at odds with this. However, I must also highlight that we had the opposite view from the CPSU, which argues that there are major fundamental problems with this legislation.

Mr Speaker, a number of amendments will be moved. I have discussed the one about openness. The Greens have an amendment on that. There are also the amendments that Ms Follett tabled this morning. Ms Follett explained why they were not tabled earlier. I have been assured that those amendments reflect the Public Accounts Committee majority report. It is quite clear, Mr Speaker, that I need to look at those to ensure that that is exactly what they do. Indeed, I imagine that Ms Follett has probably had her staff working very carefully last night and this morning to ensure that that is the case. Therefore, I will be seeking to adjourn the debate after the in-principle stage so it can be continued next week, after we have had time to examine the proposed amendments. That is if indeed the Bill passes the in-principle stage. Mr Speaker, with those few comments, I think we can look forward to an interesting debate at the detail stage to ensure the best possible legislation.

Debate interrupted.

QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE

MS FOLLETT: Mr Speaker, I direct a question to Mrs Carnell in her capacity as Chief Minister. According to the Canberra Times, you have received the Cullen Egan Dell report on the job sizing exercise for the senior ranks of the ACT public service. As the report is to recommend a reduction in the number of senior executives employed by the Territory and an increase in pay for those who remain, will you make this report available to the Assembly by tabling it? If not, why not?

MRS CARNELL: There is a first draft of the Cullen Egan Dell report available, but at this stage I do not have a final report of the Cullen Egan Dell approach. Cullen Egan Dell have been asked to have a look at our whole Senior Executive Service and determine what is the best management structure for the sort of service that the ACT and the ACT community need from its senior management. That process has been a fairly difficult one, as you can imagine, but it is something that Cullen Egan Dell have done for every other State government around Australia, so they are very experienced at it. The final position

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