Page 3563 - Week 11 - Thursday, 22 September 2005
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would expect of any good employer. This is an issue that the government takes into account in relation to all of its tenders and contracts. We have due regard to whether employers appropriately fulfil their obligations in employment of staff. That includes, as I have said, meeting award wages, meeting superannuation requirements, and meeting other requirements in terms of the proper and dignified treatment of their staff when they are doing work for the government.
MRS DUNNE: Mr Speaker, I have a supplementary question. I am not sure whether that was a yes or a no. Minister, does your government discriminate against companies that have a non-union agreement with their employees?
MR CORBELL: As I have already said, the government supports employers who take their employment responsibilities seriously. The government has a clear policy of saying that people who do work for the ACT government should, first, abide by their award obligations; secondly, abide by their superannuation obligations; and, thirdly, abide by all the other obligations that any reasonable person would expect of their employers.
Auslink bilateral agreement
MRS BURKE: My question is to the Minister for Urban Services, Mr Hargreaves. Minister, I understand that you are refusing to sign off on the Auslink bilateral agreement, risking $490,000 in federal funding for roads maintenance in the ACT and a possible $1.97 million over the life of the current agreement. Minister, why are you refusing to sign off on this agreement?
MR HARGREAVES: I was not aware that Mrs Burke had such ability to look into my mind and work out something that I have not decided to do or not do.
Mrs Burke: So you have not decided?
MR HARGREAVES: I have not got the faintest idea what she is talking about, Mr Speaker.
MRS BURKE: I ask a supplementary question. Minister, are you therefore then putting the Labor Party line above road safety in the ACT at a time when the road toll is unacceptably high and you claim that you want to reduce the road toll?
MR HARGREAVES: The short answer to Mrs Burke’s supplementary question is no. The long answer to Mrs Burke’s supplementary question is that we have a commitment to road safety and the quality of roads in this city. We take it very seriously. I suggest that they would do well to follow our lead.
Auditor-General’s report—courts administration
MR PRATT: My question is directed to the minister for police. After the release of the Auditor-General’s report into courts administration showing our courts being the slowest in the country, the media has been scathing about a four-year delay in the bringing to trial of a man from Reid. Minister, what was the cause of the extraordinary delay in this case? Was it poor management of the court system or was it your failure to properly resource the police?
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