Page 4891 - Week 13 - Thursday, 2 November 2017
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including the rollout of an electronic document and record management system; updating operational policy and procedure on matters such as land transactions, due diligence and sales and marketing; and training and information for staff on key governance issues, such as instructing valuers, fraud and ethics, records management, financial delegations and procurement.
The list of actions that the government has taken under the leadership of the Chief Minister is significant and it was important that I laid them out again for the opposition so that they got the chance to understand it, take it in and reflect on what the government has actually done.
The government has very frankly stated that we will always be looking for opportunities to strengthen probity and governance related to land development. We have actively and openly participated in every scrutiny process and forum. We have done so without the support of the opposition, without any constructive input from them at all. But that is how they roll.
I will go briefly to the UnionsACT MOU. This seeks to ensure that public money goes to ethical employers, to ensure that government contractors provide safe working environments and to ensure that workers are paid award wages.
Mr Wall mentioned cleaning contracts in his statement. Let us not forget that some employers, unfortunately, do not do the right thing. Recently, it was reported in the Canberra Times that a director of a cleaning company transferred assets to his wife on the same day that the court ordered him to pay $300,000 owed to cleaners employed by the company that he was involved with. That is exactly the kind of thing that this government wants to avoid.
Opposition members interjecting—
MS BERRY: It is great to hear so many passionate interjections and the obvious support for low paid workers in this town from those opposite.
Mrs Jones interjecting—
MS BERRY: I am very sorry but the fact is—and I hate to break it to the Liberal Party—that, unfortunately, history tells us that not every employer, left unchecked, will honour these community expectations. Mrs Jones interjects, but she should know better. Mrs Jones has had experience working as an official with the shop distributive association in Tasmania, so she has experience with what an organised union can do to support the rights of low paid workers in retail. It is great to have so much passionate interjection from Mrs Jones, a former union employee in Tasmania.
Mrs Jones interjecting—
MADAM SPEAKER: Mrs Jones, please.
MS BERRY: As we let government contracts, the duty of care this government owes to every subcontractor and employee is that all of the standards around employment
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