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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1996 Week 1 Hansard (20 February) . . Page.. 56 ..

MRS CARNELL (Chief Minister) (3.47): Speaking to the amendment, Mr Speaker, the Government will be opposing this amendment. Obviously, this amendment would tie the hands of the Government in terms of our negotiations with the unions and, therefore, obviously, it is a fairly stupid amendment. In fact, I wonder whether the Greens would be interested in putting a similar requirement on the unions. Maybe we should put forward another amendment suggesting that all six bans did have to be lifted. It would be about as sensible.

Some of the more interesting comments during this debate were made earlier by Mr Moore - not that by any stretch of the imagination I agreed with everything he said. Mr Moore made the comment that this dispute did need to be fixed and he commented about the need to address pay rises on an agency-by-agency basis. He said that in the teaching area there was a real need to address this area because it was very difficult to have productivity measures that did not impact on teacher numbers or, alternatively, the quality of education. I believe that there are some areas where productivity can be achieved in this area, and right here and now I urge Mr Moore to have a meeting with me as soon as possible to flesh this out. We want a solution to this. If Mr Moore is so sure that this can be done, then let us have a meeting; let us come up with a solution, particularly for the teachers.

Mr Moore: You set the time; I am available.

MRS CARNELL: You have got it.

MR OSBORNE (3.48): Mr Speaker, I would like to address one point the old man over there raised. You said that you were older than me, Mr Berry. I find it quite interesting how some people reshape history, how some people turn what actually happened. As you know, Mr Berry, we attempted to amend the budget over this side on the crossbenches, and the Liberal-Labor coalition voted us down. Really, my hands are tied as to telling the Government how to spend money. I cannot tell the Government how to spend money because of you.

Ms Follett: What a load of rubbish!

MR OSBORNE: That is not a load of rubbish. Read Hansard. I cannot tell the Government how to spend money. I cannot do that. I have heard some drivel in the twelve months I have been here, but you cannot deny a fact.

Getting back to the motion, I have no problem with unions trying to negotiate the best deal possible because I think that is their role. If they want 9 per cent or 20 per cent, that is their prerogative; but I am standing here to speak to the motion in front of me, and I will go through it point by point. It states:

That this Assembly:

(1) notes that the Government had failed to negotiate a new enterprise bargain by the time the previous bargain expired on 31 December 1995;

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