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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2001 Week 10 Hansard (29 August) . . Page.. 3597 ..

MR BERRY (continuing):

through in many of the problem areas of administration that this government has suffered over its period of office over the last six or seven years.

One only has to go back to the comments of the coroner in relation to evidence which came before him about senior public servants making suggestions to more junior public servants in relation to matters affecting occupational health and safety on the hospital implosion site. One only has to go to the comments from the Auditor-General about the dead-end paper trails which did not allow the him to investigate many aspects of the Bruce Stadium fiasco. But in the end you still keep coming back to the obvious position that the public service is a product of the government of the day and a product of the philosophy of the government of the day.

Mr Osborne, if you want to change the philosophy of the government, you change the government. You cannot change the philosophy of this government. They are rusted-on conservatives who have adopted their philosophy forever-

Mr Osborne: I take a point of order, Mr Speaker. Given the passion Mr Berry is showing this morning, he is clearly debating eggs and egg labelling. I think he has gone off on the wrong bill. We are talking about whether we want a career public service or not. Could you just remind him what bill we are on and ask him to show some passion for this cause?

MR SPEAKER: There is no point of order.

MR BERRY: You are not going to divert me from this point. This is your government, Mr Osborne, and you also-

Mr Osborne: I take a further point of order, Mr Speaker. Mr Berry has misled the Assembly. If you look back to the day of the debate on the Chief Minister, there were two votes for Ms Tucker, so it is not my government.

MR SPEAKER: There is no point of order.

MR BERRY: I can probably recall come instances when you have said, "I do not think it is worth getting rid of this government at this point. Labor is not ready." We have been ready all the time. You have not been ready to change the philosophy of this government, which you could have done at any time, with our willing support. We would have helped you change the philosophy of this government. We would have ensured that the public service philosophy changed as a result, had you wanted it to happen.

Bringing this legislation forward is a fine way before an election of demonstrating your commitment to the noble aims which are described in the speeches, but I am afraid the track record lets you down. The opportunities have presented themselves to change the philosophy of the government and therefore the way the public service performs, and you have failed the test, Mr Osborne.

Opportunities have been lost to make significant change without the sort of approach you have decided to take by trying to swing back the responsibility for the public service to non-executive members in this place. I have always taken the view that the public service is a matter for the executive government. It is not a matter that non-executive members

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