Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . .

Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2000 Week 12 Hansard (6 December) . . Page.. 3775 ..

MR BERRY (continuing):

Have a look at what has happened with City Parks, City Operations, CityScape, or whatever you like to call them, depending on the time you seek to describe them. They were transferred to Excel. A whole heap of jobs have been lost there. What remains in government is under Urban Services at this point. I am particularly concerned that that may well be vulnerable for transfer to Totalcare. So we have this situation where the possibility of transfers to Totalcare remains an issue of concern.

What about ACTION buses? I know that in the course of debate today ministers will climb up and say, "Paranoia. Not on the agenda." Well, I remember that just before the last ACT election the then Chief Minister, the now disgraced former Chief Minister, was asked, "What about the sale of Actew?" "Not on our agenda," she said. In only a matter of days, or hours even, all of a sudden it found its way back onto the agenda.

What this motion sets out to do, Mr Deputy Speaker, is to require the government to come back to this Assembly with its ideas for transfer of these activities to Totalcare. The opposition is dissatisfied with the events which have occurred in Totalcare, such as the loss of jobs, the constant pressure and the lack of security which workers in Totalcare have been exposed to since the transfer of building maintenance and so on to Totalcare some time ago. There has been extensive casualisation. There has been an undermining of security. That is not the way to run a business which has its employees' interests at heart.

Mr Deputy Speaker, this is a straightforward motion. It doesn't need much debate. I will go back to my original point. This is a principle that has been embraced in this Assembly before; that is, that this Assembly ought to make the decisions about the transfer of assets and asset services and activities which are part of the core arrangements for government.

If you look around town and look to the community for advice in relation to service provision throughout the city you will find that there is a great deal of concern about things like roads. You know, the old routine - rats, rates, rubbish, lawns, parks and all those sorts of things. You name it. There is concern about general issues for which the ACT is more or less famous.

Mr Deputy Speaker, I urge members to support this motion. I will say again, at the risk of being tedious, that this is a straightforward motion that merely puts the decision back in the lap of this Assembly should the government decide to do so, and it would prevent the government taking action over the Christmas break without consultation with any of the organisations and workers in those organisations. It will give a feeling of security to workers. They will know that if anything is going to happen to their workplace in relation to transfer or disposal via Totalcare, then the debate will have to happen in this place. It will have to be an open debate rather than one in which we try to catch up protection for workers after the event.

I don't want to go through that process. I don't want to expose workers to that process. I want to make sure that there is some security out there in the workplace so that workers fully understand and recognise that members in this Assembly have some concern for their future, and are prepared to have open debates about their future should the need arise. I commend the motion to the Assembly.

Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . .