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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2000 Week 4 Hansard (29 March) . . Page.. 1016 ..
MR BERRY (continuing):
Mr Speaker, I urge members to support this legislation. Before I close I will mention one very disturbing message I got at my briefing. Officers made it clear to me that the Government was still running the agenda of the defeated legislation which they put forward. They were doing it this way: If at some time in the future anybody wanted to put in place a statutory authority model envisaged by the Government, they could. The entire structure is being developed with that possibility in mind. That suggests to my slightly suspicious mind that the Government might have in mind a prospective failure of the model which has been put forward by this Assembly.
I can tell you that, now that I have a whiff of it, I am on to it, and I am going to make sure that the statutory independence of this officer is protected and that he is enabled, through this statutory independence, to provide better and safer workplaces throughout the Territory and will be free of the curse of political intervention which has occurred in the past, much to the shame of the Liberal Government opposite. Their performance on this issue has been appalling.
Officers from the Minister's office have interfered with the role of occupational health and safety officers. There was evidence at the recent coronial inquiry that there was an attempt to influence occupational health and safety officers in relation to the tragic hospital implosion. Those matters should never be forgotten when we are pursuing occupational health and safety in this Territory. They should never be forgotten against the background of moves to ensure the statutory independence, free from interference, which should apply to the Occupational Health and Safety Commissioner in the ACT. I commend the Bill to the house.
Debate (on motion by Mr Smyth ) adjourned.
MR BERRY (11.46): I move:
That this Assembly notes:
(1) the devastation of the education infrastructure in East Timor;
(2) that the CNRT Education Spokesperson, Father Filomeno Jacob has called for support from Australian authorities;
(3) that Father Filomeno Jacob will attend the Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs.
Accordingly, this Assembly calls on the Government to support all practical aid to re-establish the education infrastructure in East Timor.
Mr Speaker, this is a matter which I am sure will gain the overwhelming support of members in this place because it is an issue which has touched the hearts of Australians for many years, as it has touched the hearts of communities in many other places in the
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