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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 7 Hansard (25 June) . . Page.. 2120 ..

MR KAINE (continuing):

I want to refer to a couple of specific issues that Mr Whitecross mentioned. He raised the question of transit lanes on Adelaide Avenue and he raised the question of the cemeteries. He seemed to think that some crime was being committed because some public servants, doing their job as they see it, are looking at recommendations or proposals that have been put to them by citizens of this Territory. If he thinks that our public servants ought not to respond to proposals put forward by citizens, why does he not come out and say so? He claims that public servants were looking at the question - I am still not certain whether they were or not - of turning the bus lanes on Adelaide Avenue into transit lanes. If they were, they would have been doing it because somebody had suggested to them that it might be worth looking at. These are conscientious public servants who take their jobs very seriously, and much of what they do does not require them to come and ask the Minister every time before they undertake it. That is not the way the Public Service works. I would not expect public servants to do other than look into proposals that are made to them, whether it has to do with changing the nature of a transit lane or whether it has to do with changing the management arrangements for cemeteries.

If somebody puts forward what appears to be a reasonable idea for change, I would expect our public servants to look at that, not necessarily with the specific approval of the Minister or sometimes without the Minister even knowing. If they think there is merit in a suggestion, the matter will come up to the Minister for consideration. Does Mr Whitecross really assert that management arrangements that are in place anywhere, whether they have to do with running cemeteries or anything else, should never be reviewed by the managers out there who are responsible for them? We would certainly have a stultified ACT Public Service and ACT Public Service delivery system if that were the case. These management arrangements are being constantly reviewed.

Mr Whitecross picked out cemeteries and he picked out the transit lanes on Adelaide Avenue. He probably could have produced 20 or 30 different examples if he had done a little bit more study, and in every case I would say it is a legitimate thing and it is a worthwhile thing that public servants take the propositions put to them to determine whether or not they have any merit and respond to the initiatives that come from the community. Rather than criticising them for it, Mr Speaker, I can only commend them for it.

Mr Wood raised the question of the damaged road signs. I must admit that when I drive around Canberra I see the same evidence that Mr Wood sees. I am astounded at how many cars run into road signs, streetlights, buttresses and roundabouts. It seems to me that somebody will run into anything that is within 20 metres of the road surface. But I also suspect what Mr Wood suggested, namely, that in some cases those signs and things have been knocked over deliberately. In some cases there is no evidence of any skid marks or anything else some distance off the road. One has to ask whether somebody is not going around and deliberately pushing them over, because they seem to be in such a position that a car, under any reasonable circumstances, could not possibly run into them accidentally.

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