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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 4 Hansard (7 May) . . Page.. 1054 ..

MRS CARNELL: Mr Speaker, the last time I checked we did not have an end of financial year figure, so I really cannot tell Mr Corbell exactly what our end of financial year figures are. There is certainly some chance that, if all the redundancies that may happen this year happen, we will need $13.63m for redundancies this year on the basis of restructuring. That is the reason I could stand up yesterday and say that we have come very close to finishing the restructuring we needed to do in the Public Service, which is why I could move $4.5m from the $9.5m we had in the forward estimates for redundancies into jobs and business incentives.

We got on with the job we had to do last year to bring down our costs, and now we can get on with ensuring that there are new and real jobs in our community, out where they can really benefit the community, and that is new private sector jobs, new business in town. I am very proud that our Public Service has worked so well to restructure quickly.

Mr Corbell: I raise a point of order, Mr Speaker.

MRS CARNELL: I am not allowed to say I am proud of the Public Service?

Mr Corbell: On a point of order, Mr Speaker: I asked the Chief Minister whether she could confirm that this figure translates to around 340 jobs cut from the Public Service. Will the Chief Minister answer that question or will she keep avoiding it?

MRS CARNELL: I have made it clear that I cannot make a comment on how many redundancies will have occurred by the end of the financial year. I did say that our estimates are that, if all the redundancies that are currently in the pipeline happen, we will use $13.63m on redundancies this year.

Mr Corbell: Which translates to how many jobs?

MRS CARNELL: It depends on who takes the redundancies, does it not? Mr Speaker, that is the reason why we have been able to move $4.5m out of the proposed redundancies for this coming year and into job creation and business incentives.

MR CORBELL: I ask a supplementary question, Mr Speaker. The Chief Minister said - - -

Mrs Carnell: I thought he just had one.

MR SPEAKER: No; he took a point of order on that one, which I was happy to allow.

MR CORBELL: Mr Speaker, the Chief Minister seems completely unwilling to give us any sort of estimate of how many jobs she will take out of the Public Service this year, despite the fact that she estimates she will be spending $13.6m. My supplementary question is this: On top of that $13.63m from the central redundancy pool, is it true that additional redundancies have been funded out of agency budgets, separate from the central pool? How much has been spent in this way, or how much do you estimate will be spent in this way, and how many jobs have been, or can you estimate will be, reduced as a result of this redundancy funding?

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