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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1996 Week 11 Hansard (24 September) . . Page.. 3274 ..

Mrs Carnell: And that is how they are paying for their bit of it.

MR BERRY: I am glad Mrs Carnell interjects and says, "That is how they are paying for their bit of it". We must have that on the record. In 1994 the company posted a reduced profit of $86,000. In 1995 the company posted a loss - it was in the red - of $102,594. Listen to the next one, Mr De Domenico. I do not know whether you have heard about this. Maybe you have. In January this year the company projected a deficit for 1996 of $380,000. Is it not just a coincidence that the amount of money that they want from the Government is roughly equal to the deficit?

I would like at this point to table a document that I have. It is headed "Master Builders' Construction & Housing Association - ACT: Group Apprenticeship Scheme: Income and Expenditure Statement for the Financial Year Ending 30 June 1996: Year to Date Actual against Budget 31 January 1996". It clearly shows that the anticipated operating result is a deficit of $308,000. I seek leave to table that document.

Leave granted.

MR BERRY: Let us go back to Mr De Domenico's speech, which of course has become the focal point of debate in relation to this issue. Mr De Domenico said:

At the heart of the amendments lies a Government commitment to employment ...

If these funds are given to the MBA on the basis of the report that I have just tabled, it will not create a job. Not one single job will it create. It will go to the training scheme. When the $300,000 goes to the training scheme, the training scheme will be in deficit by $300,000, according to its own report in January. Contrary to what Mr De Domenico has claimed and what Mrs Carnell will claim - over and over again she will claim that there are thousands - from the papers that I have been provided with it is clear that the money from the Government will plug a deficit hole in the training scheme's budget. Mr Speaker, there has been caution about this issue in the long service leave fund boardroom, for good reason. The Minister has involved himself in this matter at a personal level. He did not accept the recommendations of that board and ensure that there was proper consultation in coming to his decision.

I say that there are real problems with this Bill. There is a range of problems. It is inappropriate for funds set aside for long service leave benefits for workers to be used for politically expedient reasons. The Government that proposes to use them makes claims about its commitment to employment in the Territory. What a joke, when you have a look at their record! It is one of the most shameful records that you would ever see from any government. The record of this Government in relation to employment is an absolute disgrace.

This proposal seeks to take money from a source which is an inappropriate source of funding for these sorts of training funds. The crisis, if there is one, has been created by the Government itself, Mr De Domenico in particular. He has more than halved the funds available for training in the ACT by his insistence on the reduction of the levy.

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