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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1996 Week 1 Hansard (20 February) . . Page.. 15 ..

MR BERRY (continuing):

It is not a public relations exercise, Mrs Carnell. This is about industrial relations and dealing with industrial organisations. If you want to play your games as if it were an election campaign, you can. You can play it, but what you do is never sort out the industrial problem. Mr Kaine knows that. In the period that Mr Kaine led the Alliance Government in the ACT, I would have to say, with some reluctance, that he was fairly successful, because he was able to negotiate with unions. But I would have to say that Mr Kaine failed to put his stamp on what is going on in this Government. I think he needs to try a little harder.

Mrs Carnell tried to trick the Industrial Relations Commission by her further misleading statements about the threat to patients' lives at the hospital. But she got found out. She could not convince the industrial relations commissioner that that was true. She was told that she was going to lose her case because she could not make out the case. She said, "Oh, they lifted the bans". She tried to spread the lie again. They were never going to endanger patients' lives, and they told you that from day one; so do not spread the lie. It is just not good enough.

She talks about the teachers. She regards voluntary out-of-hours work as part of the industrial dispute and regards it as one of the key bans that have to be withdrawn. What a joke! What you have to do is talk to them about the industrial dispute. You sit over there, hurl abuse and criticise unions all through your speech. (Extension of time granted) You tell us in this debate how you have been such a great manager. Have a look at the settlements you have achieved. None.

Mrs Carnell: Absolutely. Absolutely no cave-ins.

MR BERRY: This Government has been hell-bent on dragging this dispute out and fighting the ideological war. We heard Mrs Carnell say, "And we have had no cave-ins". There is not much chance of an agreement if you will not negotiate with the unions. This morning, on the radio, I heard the unions saying how far they would move. They were prepared to lift bans and they were prepared to get around the table. They know that they cannot trust this lot. On the radio again this morning, she announced, "Oh, well, we had another little deal that we were going to offer them". It is another little trick. You consider this another little public relations trick, I bet.

What has happened in this dispute because of the chicanery of Mrs Carnell? There has been a complete lack of trust built up by the environment that she has created, with all of her false accusations - greedy, thugs. She nods her head. Mrs Carnell still claims that unionists are thugs. Mr De Domenico claims that they are greedy. In the past, Mrs Carnell has claimed that lives were in danger, when they were not. Her whole involvement in this industrial dispute has led us to a point where the dispute, I fear, is beyond settlement, because the parties have been driven apart by the public relations exercise that Mrs Carnell has perpetuated in the community.

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