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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1999 Week 13 Hansard (9 December) . . Page.. 4118 ..

MR CORBELL (continuing):

Members are entitled to know why these payments are contrary to the Act. I draw members' attention to section 251 of the Public Sector Management Act, headed "Management Standards". It says that the commissioner may, with the approval in writing of the Chief Minister, make management standards not inconsistent with the Act in regard to, amongst other things, terms and conditions of employment of officers and employees.

That means that the Chief Minister had to approve any variation to the standards to provide for these payments to be extended beyond three years. This Chief Minister had to approve in writing any decision not to require payment of officer contributions. That means that this Chief Minister had to approve in writing any decision to increase the amount of payments made to these senior officers. The Chief Minister knows that to be the case and she has fundamentally failed to disclose that to the house. She has fundamentally failed to meet her responsibility as the Minister responsible for Public Service matters and make sure that these payments are made in accordance with the Act.

Mr Speaker, $300,000 has been provided to seven public servants - in one instance, over $50,000 to one officer - for temporary arrangements, but these arrangements are not temporary; they are ongoing. In fact, they are for the entire length of the contracts. They are there for the entire length of the chief executives' contracts. Mr Speaker, the public sector management standards require that where something is extended beyond three years it is extended in special circumstances. Where have we heard the Chief Minister's defence of this decision? There has not been one. What were the special circumstances, Chief Minister, that warranted an extension of the temporary accommodation allowance for the full length of these senior executives' contracts? We have not heard one.

Mr Berry: They needed to be kept happy.

MR CORBELL: Mr Berry says that they needed to be kept happy. Indeed, Mr Berry, that may have been the case. But the bottom line here is that the Chief Minister has not given us an answer as to why they were extended beyond the three years provided for in the guidelines. She has not given us that answer.

Mr Speaker, $300,000 would go a long way towards providing more teachers in our classrooms; $300,000 would go a long way towards providing more services in our hospitals; $300,000 would go a long way towards providing services for the people of Canberra. At a time when the Chief Minister says that every dollar is precious she has been prepared to outlay $300,000 to date for the purposes of a temporary accommodation allowance - a temporary allowance. Mr Speaker, it is a good deal if you can get it, but is it fair? The answer is that it is not fair. It is not fair for all of those public servants out there who work overtime without being paid. It is not fair for the nurses who do the same. It is not fair for any range of other junior and middle-ranking public servants in our Territory. The great scam that this Chief Minister pulls in this place day after day is that she stands up and says that Labor is attacking public servants, whereas the reality is that this Chief Minister does some cosy deals for some senior executives and the rest of the Public Service just has to buckle down, do as it is told and deal with the tough and unrelenting industrial relations regime that she has put in place in the ACT Public Service. That is the reality, Mr Speaker.

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