Page 339 - Week 02 - Tuesday, 23 February 1993
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MS FOLLETT: Madam Speaker, I remind members opposite that the coalition spokesman on industrial relations has declined to release his policy and has said that he will release it after the election. If anything was designed to frighten the working population, that is it.
I repeat that, on the figures I have seen but do not have before me, the Commonwealth Public Service has grown. There have been movements in and out; there have been significant movements of Commonwealth public servants to the ACT, and the Defence Signals Directorate is but one. Of course there is movement, but the big difference between a Labor government and the coalition is that the coalition has set out, in their own words, to cut Canberra off at the knees. That is what we would see if they were ever to gain power, which I doubt.
MR KAINE: I ask a supplementary question, Madam Speaker. I take it from the Chief Minister's response that she believes, and I use her own words, that reductions in the size of the Public Service that I mentioned are normal, and are therefore acceptable, under a Keating government, but that if anything even approaching it occurs under a Hewson government it will be unacceptable.
MS FOLLETT: The question is entirely hypothetical, Madam Speaker. I am not required to give an opinion, under the standing orders. However, I will. I am happy to do so. I believe that there is a difference between responsible and appropriate organising of work forces and departments in order to achieve the best possible and most cost-effective service for the community, which is Labor's approach, and the wholesale demolition of departments, which is the coalition's approach. There is a difference. Mr Kaine has sought my opinion, and I am happy to give it.
Dr Hewson proposes to abolish some of the organisations in the Federal Public Service that I think go to the heart of many of the most crucial issues in our community. He will be abolishing the Office of the Status of Women. He will be abolishing the Office of Multicultural Affairs. He will be setting up a ministry of privatisation - it sounds like something out of George Orwell - to oversee the wholesale destruction of the Public Service. There is no doubt about that. Members opposite, of course, are pretending that they do not understand that. Members opposite, and their Federal candidates in the ACT, have been at great pains to run for cover whenever this issue arises, and well they might. They know only too well the effect it will have on the ACT, and they are unable to defend that in this community. Nobody could defend it because it is an absolutely disgraceful approach.
Joint Venture Housing Development - Braddon
MS ELLIS: My question is directed to the Minister for the Environment, Land and Planning. I ask: Has the Minister seen a media report in the Canberra Times concerning the development of parts of section 22 in Braddon? Will the Minister comment on claims that there has been a denial of rights of justice in this case?
MR WOOD: Madam Speaker, in answering the question, I recognise the concerns of the residents who are very close to that proposed development. I should give the Assembly the full history of this matter. Members will be aware that this is a joint development proposal in which the Housing Trust has joined together with the owners of adjoining leases to promote urban redevelopment.
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