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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1996 Week 3 Hansard (26 March) . . Page.. 657 ..

MR DE (continuing):

down this Government, to get back on this side of the house without having to face the people of the ACT again. That is what Mr Berry is all about. We will not let him do that, Mr Speaker. This Assembly will not let him do that. Has he put forward any constructive ideas? Has he suggested, on one single occasion, that any bans should be lifted, under any circumstances, by the union movement? Of course not.

I suppose Mr Berry thinks it is funny, Mr Speaker, that elective surgery has been banned. Does he think it is funny? I hope not. If anyone has engaged in provocation, it is Mr Berry. If anyone has engaged in a misinformation campaign in the community, it is Mr Berry. Who can forget his laughable performance on radio with Elizabeth Jackson a couple of weeks ago - I am advised of this, because I do not listen to the ABC - when he suggested, I am told, that the Government was putting sick leave and other basic conditions on the negotiating table? Absolute nonsense! Mr Berry would have known that, but what did he do? He continued to misinform. Even the TLC had to walk away from that red herring. Even Mr Pyner walked away from that one.

Perhaps the only suggestion that he and Mr Whitecross have put forward throughout this dispute has been to do what Labor did when it was in government. What did the Labor Party do when it was in government? Cave in. "Give them what they want; do not worry too much about productivity; perhaps it will be okay in the fullness of time; and basically borrow what the people of Canberra cannot afford. If you cannot borrow, put it on Bankcard". It is that kind of approach that has left our health and education budgets under enormous pressure because of the unfunded promises made by the Labor Party literally in its dying days of office, and it died a death of a thousand cuts.

Mr Whitecross condemns us for our handling of the dispute, when barely a month ago he endorsed our approach to securing productivity improvements. I quote him from Hansard, Mr Speaker, when he said:

Mr Speaker, the fact is that enterprise bargaining is about productivity improvements, and it is productivity improvements that pay for pay increases.

That is what Mr Whitecross said.

Mr Kaine: That was last month. He was not leader then.

MR DE DOMENICO: What does he do? He was elected leader because of the support of the Trades and Labour Council - without Ms Reilly's wonderful, intelligent vote, might I say. Three beats two every time, even though they have six in the party room. Do not wait until the other one comes in; do it when you have the numbers, because that is the way it has been taught by the Trades and Labour Council. Having their support, of course he is going to change his mind. So this week he has changed his mind. Next week, when they have a new leader, we might have another point of view about enterprise bargaining.

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