Page 264 - Week 01 - Thursday, 24 February 1994
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MR CONNOLLY: You failed woefully when you lot were in government, Mr De Domenico. When Mr Kaine was Chief Minister and Treasurer the deficit in ACTION was flying out of control.
Mr De Domenico: What absolute rubbish!
MR CONNOLLY: It is absolutely true, Mr De Domenico. It is absolutely true, as has been demonstrated not by me but by documents that have been published by the Advance Bank through a research paper that Access Economics did. It charted the level of increase in the ACTION operating deficit. It reached its highest point, as well as its most rapid increase, under the Liberal Government. It has been coming down ever since. We will deliver a 20 per cent reduction in the cost to the ratepayer of running ACTION, we will deliver industrial harmony in ACTION, and we will do it in a way which does not create breakdowns or break-outs in wages across the Territory. It is an approach of a government which knows how to handle industrial relations, which takes a unified approach to these problems, and which is fit to govern - unlike you.
MR DE DOMENICO: I have a supplementary question, Madam Speaker. Mr Connolly, what timeframe is envisaged for the $6.5m savings, what guarantees have been given for achieving such savings, and, finally, will you provide members with a copy of the agreement and will Mr Berry ratify it?
MR CONNOLLY: I am glad that you asked that question, because had we signed if off last year, as you urged us to do, there would have been no timetable. Then it was merely a document saying, "These are the savings that are possible and this is the wages outcome we want". What we have been working on is a process which links the wage point movements to the delivery of savings. That will be achieved. We are setting up a steering committee to achieve that. The final documentation is not yet there. Your lack of understanding of how industrial relations operates is evident from the question that assumes that there is a document this thick which sets out precise workplace change and precise timetables. There is no such document, but there is agreement to a process.
Mr De Domenico: No, I know; I have read the document.
MR CONNOLLY: That surprises me because - - -
Mr De Domenico: Because I should not have one?
MR CONNOLLY: Anyway, you can say what you like. It surprises me because the full details down to the very small changes in the workplace simply do not exist yet, but if you say that you have one - - -
Mr De Domenico: What have you signed then?
MR CONNOLLY: I have not signed anything. We reached agreement at a meeting. That has been taken back to the workers, who have endorsed it, and the process will now continue. We will set up - - -
Mr De Domenico: Will Mr Berry approve it?
MADAM SPEAKER: Order!
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