Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . .

Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1996 Week 6 Hansard (23 May) . . Page.. 1723 ..

MS TUCKER (continuing):

A more underlying question that really needs to be asked about these reforms is not only what the impact on service delivery will be, but also whether it really is efficient for agencies to specify each public service requirement and have Treasury cost and fund each one. These reforms themselves involve a huge investment of time and resources, and certainly are about refocusing the efforts of government away from processes and onto services or outcomes. That is a very worthy goal, but anyone who has worked in a reasonably large organisation will know that processes and outcomes are intimately linked. It is simply not possible to come up with good outcomes if you do not worry about the internal dynamics and processes. Internal organisational factors are an essential ingredient of a productive working environment. I wonder just how much productivity has been lost because of all the upheaval in the Commonwealth Public Service at the moment. We have heard already mention of reform fatigue and its impact.

Competition drives the best performance in some areas, but not others. Continuous competition between workmates may be more destructive than helpful in most of the agencies' activities, particularly in its effect on teamwork. I do remember Mr Stefaniak saying that paintball was good for teamwork, so maybe it fits in with that model. The same could be said for the operations of the community sector, and that is why the Greens think competitive tendering is fundamentally flawed. Mr Speaker, the role of government is, and should be, broader than just the delivery of outputs to customers.

MRS CARNELL (Chief Minister and Treasurer) (5.13), in reply: Mr Speaker, I am very pleased that this Assembly will support these Bills. Mr Whitecross made the point that an enormous amount of time and effort has gone into developing these Bills, and he is quite right. An enormous amount of time and effort has gone into developing the Bills and, of course, ensuring that our staff have adequate skills and the wherewithal is there for the implementation from 1 July. We believe strongly that this legislation is essential to allow the sort of transparency and the sort of information that this Assembly has indicated that it wants, and certainly that the Government wants.

One thing that possibly has not been recognised is that the whole basis of this set of Bills is to change the focus from the processes that we use in government or the inputs that we have - in other words, what we spend money on - to service delivery. Far from being Bills that do not focus on the sorts of services that we are delivering in the ACT, when these Bills come into law from 1 July the whole basis of accounting in the Territory from then on will be based upon what we are actually buying, and what services are actually being produced, for the people of Canberra. I think that is an enormous step forward. In the past all we were really funding was inputs, without having very much of a clue at all as to what we were actually getting or what taxpayers in the ACT were actually getting for their money. It was simply an unacceptable approach.

I again thank the Assembly for their support, and I certainly thank all of those members of the ACT Public Service who have put in an enormous amount of time, whether they be in the Chief Minister's Department or in legislative drafting.

Question resolved in the affirmative.

Bill agreed to in principle.

Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . .