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

Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2001 Week 1 Hansard (13 February) . . Page.. 68 ..

MR BERRY (continuing):

I thought for a moment that Mr Humphries might not repeat the analogy that he has used of comparing public servants to racehorses. But he did so once again when he said:

Mr Humphries relied for this expert advice on a Henry Taylor, a 19th century British civil servant. If we are entering a new era on the basis of what was said by a 19th century British civil servant, I think we are in a bit of trouble. I have to say that the comparison between public servants and racehorses in the year 2001 is just a little too much to take. Is Mr Humphries suggesting that public servants in the ACT might be satisfied with a reward of a couple of lumps of sugar and a bale of hay if they perform well? Or is there some other reward in the repertoire? Might they be satisfied with half a bale of hay in case they get too fat? This is just an extraordinary analogy that one would-

Mr Moore: You have got no sense of humour, Wayne.

MR BERRY: Mr Moore says that I have no sense of humour. Public servants are involved in a serious business and they should not be subject to some reference to-it would have to be a joke-a 19th century British civil servant's expert advice which we are going to take into account in the year 2001. I do not think that is going to take us very far forward.

This is merely an attempt by the government to distance itself from its recent past. And its recent past has not been a very pretty picture that one would want to be associated with. I know that Mr Humphries has apologised in some form or another for the events at the Bruce Stadium, as you would expect him to do in the lead-up to an election. I suspect that Mr Humphries will want to distance himself from the former Chief Minister who left this place in disgrace as a result of those issues which have to be confronted one way or the other by future generations in the ACT.

I want to deal now with the new era for public servants and the assessment of their performance. Mr Humphries has fallen back on the old ideological AWAs which were invented by his Liberal Party colleague Peter Reith, the discredited former industrial relations minister-the discredited secret Australian workplace agreements. If that is the sort of ideology that we are going to have introduced into our public service then I fear for the future.

Mr Deputy Speaker, research by the University of Sydney has found that union collective agreements were delivering highest wage outcomes and that Australian workplace agreements are running a poor third behind non-union collective deals. I think what Mr Humphries is suggesting is that public servants who sign up on Australian workplace agreements will be better off. Well, Mr Deputy Speaker, the expert research suggests that they will not be. Is Mr Humphries-

Mr Humphries: It is your research, is it?

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