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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2000 Week 2 Hansard (2 March) . . Page.. 507 ..

MR STEFANIAK (continuing):

If Mr Berry has any sense and does not want to be labelled - what was it that Paul Whalan called the ACT Labor Party some years ago - "the last Stalinist party in Australia" - if you do not want that tag - - -

Mr Humphries: "In the world".

MR STEFANIAK: "In the world", was it Mr Humphries? I stand corrected. I think a crazy and totalitarian amendment such as this should be withdrawn. Given that we are also talking about this report, I think it is an unfortunate one. It is probably the worst report prepared by this committee, which has prepared some very good reports. Indeed, some reports, whilst the Government might disagree with some things, have come up with some very good suggestions.

The real problem with this is that this is a report that never should have occurred. We talk about wasting the committee's time and wasting the valuable time of committee members, all of whom are busy. This report unfortunately - you can see it by reading it; its tenor and the slants given to certain people and organisations that appeared before it - does, whatever people may say, have an ideological base to it. I am pleased to see that even in the report itself this is recognised. The second paragraph of the preface on page v states:

And it goes on. Unfortunately, I think, the ideological - - -

Ms Tucker: It goes on. It's disclaiming. You should read the rest, Mr Stefaniak. Talk about selective quoting!

MR STEFANIAK: No, the ideological bent of the majority of members of this committee is quite clear. That is highly unfortunate. The majority of members clearly did have an ideological objection to work for the dole. There are a number of real problems with this. There is that bias. They miss the point that the work for the dole scheme has the overwhelming support of citizens.

There are a number of groups who have an ideological problem with it. There are unions that have an ideological problem with it. There are unions which have had, since it was announced, an ideological problem with it. The AEU is one of those unions. It has always had an ideological problem with it. It makes no bones about the fact. That is just a fact of life. I think other unions like the CPSU and the Amalgamated Workers Union or whatever also had problems with it. I do not think they have made any bones about that fact. But that is no reason, if this report was to look objectively at what was being proposed, to come down in favour of those submissions as opposed to other submissions.

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