Page 1288 - Week 04 - Thursday, 7 April 2016
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MR DOSZPOT: Thank you, Madam Speaker. My question is to the Chief Minister. Chief Minister, I refer to comments made in the Assembly on 6 April 2016 by Mr Rattenbury regarding the memorandum of understanding with Unions ACT. He said:
For the record, I would like to be clear that I have not had any role in contributing to signing off or even viewing the document before it was publicly released.
Chief Minister, why didn’t you take the memorandum of understanding with Unions ACT to cabinet?
MR BARR: The memorandum of understanding was signed by Chief Minister Jon Stanhope in 2005. I was not in the Assembly at that time. So I cannot comment whether it went to cabinet at that point. But I have responsibility for procurement. So I can make that decision as Chief Minister and minister responsible for procurement to enter into MOUs.
MADAM SPEAKER: Supplementary question, Mr Doszpot.
MR DOSZPOT: Chief Minister, which ministers, if any, did you consult about the memorandum of understanding?
MR BARR: I continued, as the new Chief Minister, a memorandum of understanding that had been in place for more than a decade. The memorandum of understanding has been the subject of discussions—
Mr Coe: Did you know about it when you worked for Ted?
MR BARR: I never worked for Ted Quinlan.
The memorandum of understanding has been the subject of considerable public discussion, including a hearing of an Assembly committee when Mr Smyth asked questions about it in 2009. The memorandum of understanding was, in fact, one of the elements that was part of UnionsACT’s 2004 election campaign manifesto for things they wanted from political parties at that time.
MADAM SPEAKER: Supplementary question, Mr Hanson.
MR HANSON: Chief Minister, who instigated the latest MOU? Did the former agreement expire or were new terms required in this current version?
MR BARR: The MOU has been in place for 11 years and is the subject of periodic review.
MADAM SPEAKER: A supplementary question, Mr Hanson.
MR HANSON: Were any directorate officials involved in advice or negotiations in the signing of the agreement?
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