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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1996 Week 10 Hansard (3 September) . . Page.. 2956 ..

MR DE DOMENICO (continuing):

was agreed to by Ms Follett when she was Chief Minister of the ACT. That runs this way: Unless we do what we have agreed to do, we do not get any money from the Federal Government. That would have been so under the former Labor Government or under this current Liberal Government.

Having taken that first step, we then said, "Let us go and talk to the workers and say, `What it would mean is this: The current EBA will be adhered to. Six hundred workers will go from DUS to Totalcare. There will be no loss of salary, no loss of conditions. All redundancies, if any, will be voluntary redundancies funded out of a central pool' ". Most of the workers have said, "Yes, we are pretty calm about that". Some unions met with Mrs Carnell on Friday to say, "Yes, we are pretty calm about that. It is not a problem. We are pretty calm".

Mr Whitecross: Some unions.

MR DE DOMENICO: Three of the unions. Another union went as far as saying that we are wimps, moaners, groaners and a pack of left-wing so-and-sos because we did not go further. We said, "Now, hold on a tick. We get beaten about the head sometimes when we outsource. This time we are insourcing". No-one will lose any salary and conditions. There will be no sackings. The majority of the people affected are in accord. One union decided to misinform its members. That is for that union to sort out between its members and itself. I cannot see how nearly five months of consultation prior to something happening is not exactly what all governments ought to do and a fair go. It is certainly more than those opposite did when they were in government.

MS McRAE: Minister, can you confirm that, although you chose not to tell your parliamentary colleagues, the workers, the unions or the community about the changes to Works and Commercial Services and Totalcare, you did background a senior journalist from the Canberra Times and that that reflects your Government's attitude - - -

Mr Kaine: On a point of order, Mr Speaker: Is this a supplementary question or a political statement?

MR SPEAKER: It is a supplementary question.

MS McRAE: I will start it again. Can you confirm that, although you chose not to tell workers, your parliamentary colleagues, unions or the community about the changes to Works and Commercial Services and Totalcare, you did background a senior journalist from the Canberra Times and that that reflects your attitude and that of the Carnell Government that a good media story is more important than good government and proper consultation?

MR DE DOMENICO: Mr Speaker, I am delighted to answer that supplementary question. As Mr Kaine said, Ms McRae, not satisfied with the shellacking that Labor got last week and today, comes back for more. She is like one of those rubber ducks, with sand in the bottom. You punch it in the nose and it keeps coming back at you, so you keep hitting it.

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