Page 3936 - Week 09 - Thursday, 25 August 2011
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
We should be encouraging that. We should be saying to the Doug Buchanans of the world, “Well done. Well done on your job. You might not agree with the needle exchange, but well done in making the prison manageable again when it was getting out of control.” Instead Doug Buchanan gets run out of town. He gets treated shamefully by this government. He gets sacked for his efforts.
Let us just take a step back and ask: who do we believe? You have got a fella who comes in to fix problems for the ACT government with their dysfunctional prison. He comes in and fixes a lot of them. He gets rave reviews from an independent inquiry. He is then no longer in the job. He says he wants to be in the job. I wonder what might have happened. Could it be that he was sacked? You have got a guy who was in the job and doing a good job and who is no longer in the job and he says, “I want to be in the job.” That does not sound to me like the actions of someone who quit. It does not sound like the actions of someone who just walked away. That is how they treat Doug Buchanan. This goes to that minister’s character. It goes to the culture that they are overseeing in the public service.
Let us look at the disgraceful case of Neil Savery and how he has been treated. This is a guy who the current planning minister says does an outstanding job. I have had my differences with Neil Savery over the years, but I respect his performance and I respect his professionalism. Even if I do not always agree with his views on particular planning questions, I respect him. He is well respected and well regarded in his profession. He says that you are interfering. He says that you are compromising. That is a pretty serious charge that he made—that you have compromised an independent planning process. The government say to him, “You’re wrong.” In, fact, they say, “You don’t even understand your job. You don’t know what you’re talking about.” They vilify him and they push him aside. They restructure the whole public service to get rid of Neil Savery.
It was acknowledged by the former Chief Minister that that was the straw that broke the camel’s back, that that was what led them to restructure the public service—because Neil Savery said, “Keep the politics out of planning.” Neil Savery actually said, “You should honour what you say publicly with what you do privately,” and he blew the whistle, didn’t he? He blew the whistle on the hypocrisy of Andrew Barr when Andrew Barr stands in this place and pretends that he has taken the politics out of planning. Neil Savery said: “You’re putting it right back in. You’re doing it through ministers; you’re doing it through officials. It’s been happening for years and you put it back in planning.” Neil Savery highlighted the hypocrisy of Andrew Barr and this government. What did he get for his trouble? He got vilified. He had ministers questioning whether he knew what he was talking about, whether he understood his job. He got pushed aside and restructured out a job. It is disgraceful, shameful behaviour.
Debbie Scattergood was doing what a good public servant does. If the ACT government encouraged this kind of action then taxpayers would be much better off. She was saying, “Look, there’s a lot of waste here. You’re not managing this contract properly.” Isn’t that what we want our public servants to do? That is a diligent public servant. “There’s a contract that is not being managed well that is costing taxpayers extra. Let’s fix it.” What does she get for her trouble? She gets harassment, a massive legal bill and retribution from individuals.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video