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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1996 Week 11 Hansard (24 September) . . Page.. 3276 ..

MR BERRY (continuing):

There are some claims that the Government is consulting with industry about the development of a training package, but there is nothing in place to replace it. This Minister wants us to approve the dumping of the training component of the Long Service Leave Board's available funds on his word. Who would take his word? I do not know many people who would. I certainly would not. Nobody on the Labor benches would, and I will bet there are a few on your benches who would not either.

Mr De Domenico: Put your money where your mouth is.

MR BERRY: I might go and do a little secret ballot. You might be surprised at the outcome, Mr De Domenico. I see a few smirks around the Government benches.

Mr De Domenico: And I see no-one behind you, Mr Berry, except the CFMEU, the same mob that attacked Parliament House.

MR SPEAKER: Order! Other members will have a chance to speak, hopefully in silence, in due course.

MR BERRY: I give Mr De Domenico the opportunity to withdraw his wish for me to go and survey Government members. I think he might be disappointed at the outcome. Mr Speaker, I re-emphasise that this Assembly would be a laughing-stock if we were to endorse the processes that have been engaged in by this Minister. He bullied the Long Service Leave Board into a position in relation to this matter and has not taken their advice. This decision was taken before consultation. Indeed, attempts were made to adjust the legislation which is now in this place. The great coincidence that should worry everybody is the fact that, on the Master Builders Association's own figures for its training scheme, this amount of money roughly equals the deficit.

Mr De Domenico: Just wait and listen, but that is really scurrilous. You ought to be ashamed of yourself.

MR BERRY: You go for your life. In any event, you still have to keep coming back to the point that governments should not be raiding the funds of the Long Service Leave Board to play political games with. The Labor Party will not be supporting this Bill, and we urge other members in this place who are reasonable about these issues not to support it either.

MRS CARNELL (Chief Minister) (10.59): Have we heard so much gobbledegook and absolute guff in this place since the last time Mr Berry spoke? This Bill increases - not starts but increases - the level of funding allocated from the long service leave fund for training purposes. The first 10 per cent, I understood, was put in in 1990 by Mr Berry himself - I would assume at odds with the Long Service Leave Board.

Mr Berry: With their approval.

MRS CARNELL: No; I am sorry. They philosophically oppose any money from the long service leave levy being used for any purpose other than funding current entitlements of people in the industry. That is their brief and they stick by it. When Mr Berry and

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