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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1999 Week 13 Hansard (7 December) . . Page.. 3922 ..

MR BERRY (continuing):

of things on. Mr Speaker, if you look at the WorkCover authority legislation, clause 22 states:

The staff assisting the General Manager must be employed under the Public Sector Management Act 1994.

If you look at subclause 25(i) of the Occupational Health and Safety (Amendment) Bill No. 2, it states:

The staff assisting the Commissioner shall be employed under the Public Sector Management Act 1994.

It is the same provision. That was an inaccurate assessment of my speech and these pieces of legislation which are being considered by the Assembly. That cannot pass without comment.

Mr Smyth also made mention of the functions of the WorkCover authority. He commented on the Occupational Health and Safety Council, saying that its role and function would remain in place. What the Minister should have said was that many of the functions of the WorkCover authority parallel, in many ways, what the Occupational Health and Safety Council has been set up to achieve.

MR SPEAKER: I think you are now moving beyond the bounds of a personal explanation, Mr Berry.

MR SMYTH (Minister for Urban Services): Mr Speaker, I seek leave to address the comments that Mr Berry made. If Mr Berry would turn to page 4 of his own explanatory memorandum, he will see that it states:

Staff: The Commissioner can arrange with the Chief Executive who controls an administrative unit, or other appropriate person, for the use of the services of public servants and facilities to assist in the performance of his or her duties. The Public Sector Management Act 1994 is to apply for such Public Servants.

The use of the Public Sector Management Act is not the issue. Again, we see gloss here. The point is that the commissioner can arrange with the department for resources to carry out his or her activities. The commissioner is not independent. The commissioner is beholden to and dependent upon other people to carry out his or her functions. What we want to set up is true independence. Mr Berry is missing the mark, as he always does.

Question put:

That this Bill be agreed to in principle.

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