Page 2084 - Week 07 - Thursday, 16 June 1994
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MR KAINE: It was a pretty good chortle. It might have been an interjection, but it was a chortle. Mr Deputy Speaker, it really is time that the Follett Government began to think ahead, to look to the future, to look at what needs to be done. They talk about making Canberra a better place. They talk about preserving all of the good things about Canberra, but they do not do anything about it. Until they confront those issues and begin to look at a long-term program of restructuring the way government does business, and then produce a series of budgets to achieve that, we are going to stagger along just like we have been doing for three years out of the last five.
Mr Deputy Speaker, today we will be continuing this discussion about the establishment of a new public service. Where in the budget is there any recognition of the fact that we are going to have a new public service, and that presumably this public service is going to do things better than it has done them under the old system? Nowhere. The fact is that they are simply going to retitle the public service, and I have said this before. Everybody will have new titles. They will all have their free bottle of wine with the new label on it, they will have their new biros with the label on the side, and nothing will change.
One would think that in creating a public service, as we are about to do, it would be created with the purpose of doing things in a different way, doing them better, reflecting efficiencies that can be pointed to in the budget, so that we can say, "This is the result of our establishing our new public service. We saved $10m this year, or $20m, or even $5m". But there is nothing in here to even recognise that we are going to have a new public service. It is business as usual, which is the motto of this Labor Government. Business as usual; status quo; steady as she goes; keep the masses happy by throwing the pepper and salt around. But do not ever take a major decision to do anything, because if you do you might upset the trade unions.
Why do they not restructure ACTION? They do not restructure ACTION because it will upset the trade unions, and they will lose some of the financial and other support they get come election time. That is the only reason why ACTION is not being dealt with. It is the only reason why many other major restructuring projects that should be undertaken by this Government are not being undertaken either. It simply is not good enough. The community deserves better, and I hope that come February next year they will get a better deal because they will get a better government.
MR MOORE (4.02): There are many things in Mr Kaine's speech, Mr Deputy Speaker, with which I find myself in agreement.
Mr Kaine: That is because I am so logical.
MR MOORE: Mr Kaine interjects that that is because he is so logical. That must be the case. Yes, it is a steady as she goes budget, or, as described in the Canberra Times, "Don't rock the boat". Mr Kaine says that it is business as usual. Mr Deputy Speaker, I have stood in this chamber again and again, like Mr Kaine, and said, "For heaven's sake, set your priorities. Do something, and produce a true Labor budget". I do not believe that this is a Labor budget through and through; I believe that it is a bureaucratic budget through and through. It is the nip and tuck around the bureaucratic system that is there.
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