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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2000 Week 7 Hansard (29 June) . . Page.. 2333 ..
MR SMYTH (continuing):
There are concerns about giving housing to CHC. We are criticised that there is not enough choice of providers, and we are criticised when we help more providers get into the scene. How do you win?
Mr Berry made the comments you would expect from him, although he gave some faint praise for the government reacting to issues as he raised them. Mr Berry homed in on his favourite subject. I acknowledge that Mr Berry is passionate about occupational health and safety. I said that when we debated the Commissioner for Occupational Health and Safety. I respect his passion. But he failed, as he always does, to finish the story by quoting what the coroner said about what this government had done in regard to ACT WorkCover. The coroner acknowledged that improvements could be made and were being made by ACT WorkCover. He said:
This is well evidenced by Exhibits 526 and 526C, which are described as a Summary of Actions arising from the Review of ACT WorkCover. The Government and the civil service are to be commended for taking such a positive and immediate response to Katie Bender's death. It should be stated that the need for such reform was seen shortly before the tragedy and steps were being taken to implement change when the death occurred.
Please, Mr Berry, tell the full story. If you do, you will earn a lot more respect from a lot more people.
Mr Berry also blamed John Howard for the decline in prices and the land glut in the ACT. No, Mr Berry, you cannot pin that one on the federal government. You people managed the land release program so appallingly that it has taken five years for it to soak up, five years during which the Carnell government had to scale back its land release programs. When you needed more money, you flogged more land. You got it wrong. When you talk about us getting planning wrong, you ought to look at yourselves first, because you got it very wrong.
Mr Berry was critical of the career assistance unit. It has been very successful in helping people find jobs. Some have decided to take packages and depart. We moved people back into the federal public service, and we helped someone take a hobby and turn it into a business. The unit is working very well and it should be complimented for the work it does.
Mr Berry was critical of the labour hire companies. He said that these people come and go. Of course they come and go, because these people are hired in the peaks of seasonal work. You do not employ somebody to come and mow the lawn in winter when the lawn is not growing, but you do employ an awful lot of people when the grass is growing throughout spring and summer. It is reasonable to do that.
Mr Moore: It is a bit like hospitals.
MR SMYTH
: It is a bit like hospitals. That is right. The curious turnaround tonight was from Mr Corbell, when he changed shape and fessed up about the mistakes of Labor. It is not something we often hear from Mr Corbell. It was almost like a werewolf turning back into a human being when he said, "We got it wrong. But the Liberal Party have not done anything to fix it up over the last five years." That is because the joint ventures
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