Page 37 - Week 01 - Tuesday, 22 February 1994
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Mr De Domenico: Everybody knows that.
MRS CARNELL: Everybody knows that. Everybody knows that we need a flatter management structure. We need a focus on the individual. We need workplace based agreements which will give every section of our public service a capacity to service the public, to do their job within the guidelines that you as the Government set, to the best of their ability. The only way that can happen is with workplace based agreements, so that they can produce the efficiencies that they want to produce.
Mr Berry: You lost the last election on that rubbish.
MRS CARNELL: It is not our policy; it is your policy, Mr Berry.
MR BERRY (Minister for Health, Minister for Industrial Relations and Minister for Sport) (4.24): Mrs Carnell has it wrong again. She talks about politicisation of the public service and all that sort of stuff. She would know, but will not repeat, that politicisation of the public service occurs when public servants actively participate in the political process.
Mr Kaine: Or when the Chief Minister inflicts politics on them.
MR BERRY: Okay. This is a quote from the Chief Minister's speech:
The Opposition seems to expect us to simultaneously slash and burn the ACT Government Service, to reduce services, staffing and operations. The level of service, method of delivery and associated resource needs are properly set in the budget context, and we do this every year. The head of employment power always has been irrelevant to these types of decisions.
Mr Kaine: An absolutely improper statement from a Chief Minister to public servants.
MR BERRY: It is absolutely proper because new graduates in the public service are entitled to know what their future prospects are going to be. What we are saying to you - - -
Mr Humphries: What? Under a Liberal government?
Mr Kaine: So that was deliberately designed to prevent the Liberal Party winning the next election. Yes, deliberately designed. This is not political! Of course not!
MR BERRY: It is perfectly proper for the Government to address proposals that deeply affect public servants and their future employment prospects. Labor would, of course, make sure of this in all circumstances. It is proper for the Government to reassure them of the attitude of the government of the day in relation to their jobs and whether the range of opportunities will change. Why should we not tell them? What are we supposed to do? Keep them in the dark? No way. You cannot keep them in the dark. This is even more true for new graduates who are keenly sought after by the Commonwealth departments and who might well leave the ACT Government Service if they thought their opportunities would diminish, as they might well do once they listen to the threats that are being made by the slash and burn Liberals opposite.
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