Page 2159 - Week 07 - Wednesday, 22 June 2005
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be made through a combination of, for example, permanent part-time work and job sharing. There is a whole range of issues. It is limited only by the imagination of the staff.
I congratulate the staff on the way they have embraced this change. This is a very forward thinking change. Of course, I have met probably 75 per cent of my staff and those opposite I do not think know more than about 20 between them. The conversations I have had directly with the staff, the unions and management in terms of the process of change have indicated that there is a very positive attitude towards this. Unlike those opposite, the staff of the Department of Urban Services are particularly proud of the service they provide to the people.
MR STEFANIAK: Mr Speaker, I wish to raise a point of order. The minister is giving a long and rambling answer; he is not really sticking to the point.
MR SPEAKER: Mr Stefaniak, you and I both support the standing orders, which allow five minutes to answer these questions.
MR HARGREAVES: Thank you, Mr Speaker. Mr Stefaniak would know, because I presume he has spoken to one or two people from that department, that they are proud of the service they give to the people of the ACT. They want to provide more and better services. They have embraced this need for change and they recognise that the change in work practices will result in some reduction in full-time equivalent staffing. As I have said before, there will be that figure of about 80—and I imagine it is 80. The actual figure, of course, will result from the total restructuring process involving the staff, the unions, management and everybody in the ACT, bar those opposite.
MR STEFANIAK: Mr Speaker, I have a supplementary question. Minister, will you guarantee that none of the casual staff at the Canberra Connect shopfronts will lose their jobs as a result of the restructure and cost saving exercises?
MR HARGREAVES: There will be no involuntary redundancies.
City West master plan
DR FOSKEY: My question is to the Minister for Planning. The City West master plan states that “a broad social mix of residents requires affordable housing” and that “the government will aim to ensure that a minimum of five per cent of residential accommodation will be offered for low and medium income earners”. Yet, in answer to question on notice No 23 of the estimates hearings, we were advised that there was no guarantee of the government reaching five per cent affordable housing in Civic west, and when it came to accommodating a social mix we had our attention drawn to the ANU’s commitment to providing student accommodation. Given that the student accommodation is not in itself likely to provide the broad social mix of affordable housing that the master plan commits the government to pursue, how will the minister ensure that the accommodation promise is delivered?
MR CORBELL: I thank Dr Foskey for the question. The City West master plan does outline a commitment to try to achieve a broad range of people living in the City West
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