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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2000 Week 7 Hansard (29 June) . . Page.. 2324 ..

MR BERRY (continuing):

to work?" The official said, "We just order another one." It is a bit like a broken axe handle, you just get another one when it is broken. You don't take any responsibility for the workers who have been injured as a result of their engagement with the government.

We have learnt in past inquiries that the labour hire companies are not that particular about their workers either. They don't provide any training for workers, and they don't have any responsibility for occupational health and safety. That is the responsibility of the host hirer but, in this case, the government's officials tell us that, as soon as one is broken, what they do is just order another one. Can't come to work: we just order another one. That is an extremely cruel approach.

We have this appalling situation where the government isn't showing leadership to the rest of the community, and the rest of business in the ACT, when it comes to hiring practices. They use labour hire company workers as workplace fodder, and treat them similarly. The government is a callous employer in this regard.

One other matter I would raise briefly is the issue of maintenance around public parks and so on. I raised with this minister an issue of public safety at John Knight Park around Lake Ginninderra, which again he has fixed very quickly. The situation there is that there has been a bit of vandalism. It has been around for years, and there does not seem to have been much effort to fix it. However, most importantly, around the toilet area there are live wires hanging down everywhere, and they have been hanging there for years, according to the reports I had.

It is true that the government moved quickly to fix this when it was reported, but doesn't anybody ever go out and visit these places and have a look around, to see if they are safe? Doesn't anybody notice these things, or do we have to wait until-happily-somebody reports it to me? We should be glad that a youngster did not grab hold of the wires and that we did not have to report some other tragedy as a result of the government's inadequacy in dealing with safety issues.

This minister is as much a part of this government, and should bear the same criticism, as any of the other ministers, and does not deserve to have his budget supported. This minister, as has been drawn to the attention of this place by my colleagues, clearly does not deserve to hold on to his portfolio. I certainly will not be supporting this line in the budget or the budget generally as a result of this minister's, and other ministers', general performance throughout their period of administration.

MS TUCKER (9.31): I want to put the Greens' position on this line. I will speak about housing first. Housing is perhaps the most important indicator of the support government offers those in need, and public housing policy thus demonstrates the values that inform the government's approach.

The provision of adequate, stable and affordable housing is recognised as one of the central elements to mitigating poverty among people on low incomes. The reduction in Commonwealth funding under the Commonwealth-State Housing Agreement has not been balanced through an increase in territory expenditure. Once adjustments have been made for the GST, expenditure on public housing will decrease.

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