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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1996 Week 2 Hansard (29 February) . . Page.. 474 ..

MS FOLLETT (continuing):

ourselves in a very farcical situation very quickly. Mrs Carnell also said that she did not want to make public the kinds of parameters that might apply to the issuing of further contracts. Why not? If those sorts of parameters are public, we can ensure that there is an open and competitive climate for future contracts being let. I do not believe for one moment that information on the parameters for further contracts is any reason for making this report unavailable.

I think Mrs Carnell can be confident that the Assembly, and Mr Moore in particular in moving this motion, have no intention of victimising or homing in on individuals. We have no intention of exposing the Government or the Assembly to defamation or other legal action; but I do not believe that that is any reason for Mrs Carnell to deny us the information, and I support Mr Moore's motion. If there is a way in which it can be amended that would be satisfactory both to Mr Moore and to the Government, I am perfectly happy to look at that; but a blank denial of the information is certainly not acceptable.

MS TUCKER (12.04): We will be supporting this motion, and I will look at the amendment when it is circulated. It is a concern when we hear that there is a review of how people are working and it is a secret review. I do not understand it when, once again, this Government is talking about good management. Assessment of work practices does not have to be secret. Assessment of work practices can be a cooperative function which, if all workers are involved, can have a very positive outcome. I am not at all surprised that people are concerned at the way this has been carried out.

Mr De Domenico said yesterday, "Everybody is doing it, Ms Tucker". We should not be daring to challenge some of the things this Government is pushing. The point is that there are people in all States and in the Federal arena who are asking the questions we and other people here are asking. In South Australia recently, the South Australian Auditor-General, Mr Ken MacPherson, told a parliamentary committee that the State Government needed to review its handling of major contracts to make them more transparent. He also told the committee that commercial confidentiality should not be used to keep important contract deals secret. He said that it was critical that the performance of contractors be scrutinised to make sure that major problems were nipped in the bud.

These are the things we are asking for. It is not so outrageous, and the fact that everybody is doing it has to be coupled with the fact that, where everybody is doing it, lots of people are asking questions about the implications. There is a certain sense of a follower of fashion in this Government. Because everybody else is doing it, it is fine. People went for performance pay. That was a fashion once, too, and now people are saying that it was not very good for teamwork. Let us ask the questions. We do not have to be so defensive. There are probably things that can be done to stop these negative impacts occurring, and that is all we have been asking for. We will definitely be supporting the motion and hope to see a much more open approach to the assessment of work practices.

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