Page 5082 - Week 17 - Wednesday, 12 December 1990
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nauseam. If Mr Berry cares to draw out particular correspondence or particular discussions I have had with any particular party, I am very happy to table that particular correspondence.
Hospital Employees Federation
DR KINLOCH: My question is to Mr Humphries and it is in the spirit of Christmas. We are intrigued by the stories on the front page of the Canberra Times. Would the Minister comment on the report in today's Canberra Times suggesting that his department played a role in the resignation of the two HEF elected officials, Hedley Rowe and Bruce Tunks?
MR HUMPHRIES: I thank Dr Kinloch for that question. I am pleased that, following discussions between senior management of the ministry and the Trades and Labour Council and the Federal Secretary of the Hospital Employees Federation, pickets outside the Royal Canberra Hospital South have been removed. I also understand that those members still on strike voted this morning to return to work on the first shift after midnight tonight. I think we can all be grateful that that has occurred.
I am also aware that Mr Hedley Rowe and Mr Bruce Tunks have chosen to resign from their positions in the Hospital Employees Federation effective from this Friday. The resignations are a matter between the union and themselves and I will not comment further on that. I will say, however, that I trust that the change in elected HEF officials will herald an era of a positive working relationship with that particular union - such a relationship having not always existed in the past. I am sure some opposite would agree with that. Like other unions, the HEF has an important role to play in contributing towards an improved health care system for the people of the ACT, and I look forward to letting them play that full role in the future.
Asbestos Testing
MRS GRASSBY: My question is addressed to Mr Duby as the Minister for Urban Services. The Minister is aware that the Asbestos Branch has its own laboratory for conducting air monitoring and analysing. My question is: Once a sample has been taken to the laboratory, how long does the first testing according to the strict NATA standards take?
MR DUBY: I think this matter has been raised with Mrs Grassby in the past; I refer to the asking of incredibly technical questions relating to matters which no person who is not directly involved in the area could have the slightest idea of off the top of their head. If Mrs Grassby seeks information of this kind, she knows that the
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