Page 2010 - Week 07 - Wednesday, 15 May 2013
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
The main change is the omission of Mr Gentleman’s clause 3 and the insertion of a new clause 3 which calls on the government to ensure a number of things. I think it is a better form than simply reaffirming the importance of something, especially in combination with clauses which congratulate the government. I might observe, and we covered this in the last motion from Mr Smyth, that as a matter of form in this place the Greens are not really interested in these sorts of texts or those that are simply gratuitous attacks on the government. I think these motions that we debate should generally be about achieving something for the future, acknowledging things that are actually happening. Motions of both those kinds do very little to move us forward in the Assembly.
So my amendment calls on the ACT government to “ensure a timely implementation of the recommendations in the report”. It also calls on the government to work with stakeholders to annually review and report on actions taken and progress made in relation to the Getting home safely report.
I note the comment that Mr Corbell just made about the six-monthly commitment. I did actually pick it up from Mr Gentleman’s original motion—the annual reporting. In the spirit of not seeking to amend Mr Gentleman’s motion any more than was necessary, I had simply carried that forward. If members are agreeable, I am happy to simply amend that on the floor. That might be something that, if Mr Gentleman wants to move a further amendment to my amendment, I would be quite comfortable with if Mr Corbell does. Of course, the government can always report more often than is asked for in the motion. I am quite happy to resolve that. It does seem a shame that we could not have sorted that before we came to the floor of the chamber today.
Mr Seselja: Why don’t you just move it?
MR RATTENBURY: All right. I will just move an amendment to my amendment. In my proposed paragraph 3(e), if members are agreeable, we will change that to “six monthly review and report”. I think that has the support of the house.
The other amendments are fairly minor reforms to the words that Mr Gentleman was proposing. I know that essentially his motion had the same intent. But one difference is that I have asked the government to report publicly on its progress against the recommendations, which I do not think will be burdensome, particularly in the light of the comments that Mr Corbell made.
One of the key points in the amendment is a call on the government to ensure that workplace safety is a key consideration when procuring capital works across the territory. This is an issue that has been a focus for the Greens. We want the ACT government to be a best practice employer when it comes to capital projects, and they can make a real difference to safety.
The Getting home safely report pointed out that shared service procurement should take a balanced approach to assessment of tenders where safety and a range of factors, including price, are all weighted comparatively and assessed. The report describes the process by saying:
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video