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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2001 Week 3 Hansard (7 March) . . Page.. 751 ..

MR SMYTH: We will look for other examples. These were actually activated at the end of those staff members' retention period. That is something we are seeking to do. It is exactly what we wish to do. We wish to follow the established process.

What Mr Berry's motion does is say it is acceptable for Labor to have a process, but the Liberal Party is not allowed to have access to the same process. That is what we are seeking to do. We will look and find out how many others were actually made involuntarily redundant under Labor. It is an important point to make.

Mr Speaker, the package, by normal standards and in comparison to the FISAP, is a generous program. Mr Corbell said that it was not, but Mr Corbell needs to go back and look at all the elements of the package. It is better than anything Labor ever offered when they were in government. This is a better package than anything that has ever been offered by the ACT public service or the Commonwealth public service. I think Mr Corbell needs to go back and look at what is there instead of spouting rhetoric in the way that he does. Mr Speaker, employees who have been with ACT Forests for a long time will not be forgotten. That is why the enhanced package is there.

Mr Berry also raised the issue of fire fighting. Again, that has been taken into consideration. We are very much aware of the services that have been provided by ACT Forests, and allowance has been made to make sure that there are enough firefighters on hand during the fire season. We take that responsibility very seriously.

Mr Speaker, we then get to what it is that we are putting in place. We will be putting in place specific assistance for staff who may seek redeployment rather than take a voluntary redundancy. We are restructuring and realigning the careers assistance unit program and the services that they offer to make sure that we give maximum opportunity for those workers who wish to remain in the public service.

Mr Rugendyke asked what would be done to help. Well, the package is all there and they will be given time to retrain. We will look for other opportunities. We will follow that process through because we would like to see people in employment. We have worked very hard over the last six years to create new employment opportunities. We would like to see any worker displaced in this way take up those opportunities. Mr Speaker, members of the Assembly have seen the initiatives in the information pack that was distributed. All of this information is contained there.

Now, when we get to Mr Berry's motion, you have to ask on what ground does Mr Berry suggest that these workers should be given the undertaking of employment for life. Is that the undertaking that Jon Stanhope's Labor opposition is giving-that all ACT public service employees under a Labor government will have opportunities to be employed for life? I notice that Mr Berry does not even bother to interject because he knows that that is not what they will offer. They are not in the position to offer that because they know that circumstances will change that necessitate restructure. So we get back to the comments made by the Chief Minister. This is just a stunt. It is playing to an audience. Everyone knows that occasions will arise when restructure must take place.

There has been a long history with ACT Forests. It does go back to inadequacies in planning under Liberal governments in the 1960s. It goes back to over-harvesting under federal Labor governments in the 1980s. (Extension of time granted.) It is important to

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