Questions - 07 December - 21 December 1976
Parliamentary record 16
Questions for 1st Assembly 1974 - 1977; Parliamentary Record; ParliamentNT; 1st Assembly 1974 - 1977
1976-12-21
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Northern Territory. Legislative Assembly -- Periodicals
Northern Territory Legislative Assembly
Darwin
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QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOT1CE - Tuesday 7 December 1976 of the Alice Springs Traffic Section is one second class sergeant and eight constables. 1644 Mr EVERINGHAM to Mr RYAN ANSWER It was reported yesterday in the press that he did nothing to help settle the firemen's recent dispute. Is that report in fact true? In answering this question, I intend to go into a little detail to put the record straight. It was reported yesterday that a couple of gentlemen involved in the activities of a couple of unions stated that, apart from the fact that I have all the hallmarks of an adolescent I do not know whether to take that as a compliment or not. "He has acted in a very irresponsible manner and has made no attempt to solve the dispute." This was stated by Mr Bonson the secretary of the Firefighters Association. On Thursday 25 November at 10 o'clock in the morning, I rang Mr Bonson . and told him that I was going away at 1.30 and asked if there was anything that I could do to have the dispute solved. After a couple of hours on the telephone to Mr Bonson and the Assistant Secretary of the Department of the NT, I was able to arrange a meeting for 1.30 that afternoon in the office of the First Assistant Secretary. I left this city and from Mt Isa I rang the First Assistant Secretary at 3 o'clock in the afternoon. He informed me that the firemen did not turn up for the meeting. I thought this was rather strange because Mr Bonson had indicated that he was going to attend that .meeting and, from the discussions that I had had with both of the gentlemen concerned, I felt that the strike could have been fixed up there and then. Before I sit down, I would just like to dwell a bit on this irresponsibility. The irresponsibility was on the part of the union because it cost the men in the Northern Territory Fire Brigade somewhere in the vicinity of $40,000 in wages. If they had taken my advice and guidance back on the 25th, they might have saved about $30,000 of that. I will leave it to this House to decide who is irresponsible. 1645 Mrs LAWRIE to Dr LETTS ANSWER Are there regulations drafted under the new Public Service Bill and, if so, when will they be made available to honourable members? In relation to clause 28(2) dealing with the filling of vacancies, could he advise to what class of person that refers? Draft regulations have been prepared. They are to be regarded as a working draft at this stage, to be used for comments and constructive criticism and will undoubtedly be subject to amendment. They have been prepared, they are now available and I will see that the honourable member for Nightc1iff and the honourable member for Port Darwin get a set this morning. I will have a look at the section to which the honourable member refers in .the second part of her question and provide advice later this day. 1646 Mr EVERINGHAM to Mr POLLOCK Was on 8 May 1975 an application taken out in the Alice Springs Children's Court by a welfare officer of that town for a declaration that