Page 3104 - Week 10 - Wednesday, 15 September 1993
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public who were frustrated at the politics that had been played by members opposite in relation to that legislation were in there putting their applications in within weeks of the Assembly debate. The process was working, worked well, and was unfortunately delayed by members opposite.
MR MOORE: I ask a supplementary question. Therefore, Minister, is it fair to say that you consider that the putting in of applications means that the whole Bill was operational and working?
MR CONNOLLY: No; the Bill was commenced. The full operation of the Bill required the regulations and all the rest to be proceeding, and that did take some months. But within weeks of this debate we were opening the doors for business, anticipating - - -
Mr Moore: You could have done that in December.
MR CONNOLLY: No, I could not do it in December, Mr Moore, because in December we did not know what wacky ideas would come up from members opposite. We had some extraordinary propositions being bandied about which would have had the Act in a substantially different form from the legislation as it was presented to this Assembly. I could not have been receiving applications on some sort of wild guess as to what may have come out of this Assembly debate. Once the Assembly had debated the Bill and we had the Act in its final form, we were in a position within weeks, as we promised, to be up and running and getting the Act implemented and receiving applications. Then we got the regulations through. As I said, if I were Mr Moore, the last issue I would be reminding community groups about is my performance on the adoption legislation.
Government Service - Voluntary Separation Scheme
MR KAINE: In answer to Mr De Domenico's question, the Chief Minister referred to the voluntary separation scheme. Chief Minister, am I to understand that you have included $17m in your budget when there is no government policy on the matter, there is no government direction on the matter, you have no idea how many people might take advantage of the offer, and you do not know whether you can spend the money or not? There is an estimates process coming up soon and I would be interested to hear the answer to this question.
MS FOLLETT: I think it is a nice try by Mr Kaine, but it is not going to get him too far. The fact is that the Government has taken a decision that there will be a voluntary separation scheme, and we have funded that decision to the extent of $17m. That is the rationale that I think Mr Kaine is seeking. Indeed, it is a decision taken by the Government and it has the full force of such a decision. In taking that decision, we had advice from agency heads. Again, perfectly legitimate action for the Government is to take advice from their senior public servants. That advice indicated to us, when we were considering budget matters, that there were a number of people in the ACT Administration who may welcome an opportunity to make a change of career or may welcome an opportunity to retire early. I put a great deal of faith in the advice of agency heads, and that was their advice.
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