Page 4483 - Week 14 - Wednesday, 23 November 2005
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brought this issue into the Assembly and I believe that we have the responsibility and the interest to carry that through.
Certainly, Mr Corbell is concerned that members—and I suppose he meant me—might want to take on the job of managing services such as this. I can tell you that that is the last thing I want. But I do want to make sure that people in the public service who have the role of manager are adequately supported, that they are included in decisions that are made that affect their departments and their work, and that realistic expectations are held for them. We cannot expect our managers to do what government should do.
I was sorry that the implementation group proposal was rejected by the government, because there is historical evidence that changes that are often recommended in good faith and agreed to by the government in good faith are lost along the way; they are not carried through in practice. That is why an implementation group of people really concerned about the changes being carried through makes this a really important process, we believe, because there are changes of personnel in departments, governments can drop the ball, and that is why we need this group.
Mr Smyth went over some of the history of this issue. It just reminded us of how this all happened in the first place and I am pleased that he very clearly understands what the intent of our motion is. Like Mr Smyth, I noted that the minister did not address our concerns about the systemic nature of the problems in ADP and the implications this may have for other service delivery agencies. However, we can look at this again in more detail when we have the results of the public interest disclosure review before us.
Mr Smyth made a point about funding. Of course it is absolutely essentially that we have adequate funds to implement the changes and to make sure the ADP program can work as intended, but our focus really here is on culture. The culture of an organisation is absolutely integral to the way money is spent and to the way decisions are made to the satisfaction of employees and services and to clients of those services. We know that culture is not as easily identified as budgetary allocations, so we can talk about the dollars but we need more clues as to what is happening in the culture. It is very good to hear from Mr Smyth and to know that the Liberals will be involved in oversight of this as well.
To conclude, it would have been interesting to have heard from members of the health committee because I did indicate in my speech that the health committee has a role in this Assembly, covering at least two parties, to ensure that change in the ADP is as deep and systemic as the reviews indicated it needs to be and that it is well supported. I commend the motion and the amendment to the chamber.
Amendment agreed to.
Motion, as amended, agreed to.
Intergovernmental relations
MR MULCAHY (Molonglo) (11.14): I move:
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