❓ Question regarding potential privatisation of cleaning services in WA schools and hospitals. Minister confirms meeting with contractors, denies ordering specific reports, defends value-for-money audits, and criticises the previous government's cleaning policy.
AnsweredQoN 707Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
SCHOOLS AND HOSPITALS — CLEANING SERVICES
(1) Can the minister confirm that he recently met with the Building Services Contractors Association of Australia WA? (2) Can the minister confirm that at that meeting the association urged the state government to privatise cleaning services in public hospitals and/or schools? (3) Can the minister confirm that his office ordered the Department of Commerce’s labour relations division to provide a report on the industrial impacts of privatising school and hospital cleaning? (4) Can the minister confirm that his office ordered the Department of Treasury and Finance to provide him with a report on the financial implications of privatising school and hospital cleaning? (5) Will the minister rule out privatised cleaning in government schools and hospitals? Mr T.R. BUSWELL
(1) Can the minister confirm that he recently met with the Building Services Contractors Association of Australia WA? (2) Can the minister confirm that at that meeting the association urged the state government to privatise cleaning services in public hospitals and/or schools? (3) Can the minister confirm that his office ordered the Department of Commerce’s labour relations division to provide a report on the industrial impacts of privatising school and hospital cleaning? (4) Can the minister confirm that his office ordered the Department of Treasury and Finance to provide him with a report on the financial implications of privatising school and hospital cleaning? (5) Will the minister rule out privatised cleaning in government schools and hospitals? Mr T.R. BUSWELL
AnswerView source ↗
I will give the short answers to the five questions, as best I recall them, and then I will make some other comments. The short answers are as follows — (1) Yes. (2) Yes. Why would independent contractors not come to the government and ask it to use independent contractors? I would have thought it was quite odd if they had come to us, after a meeting with me, and said, “We want a meeting with the Minister for Commerce and Treasurer, and we don’t want to talk about our business.” Anyway, funnier things have happened. (3) No. I think that question was whether I have asked the Department of Commerce for a review of the industrial implications. I am pretty sure that I could work out what the industrial implications would be. That is not saying I am worried about that, but I am pretty sure I could work out what they would be from the miscellaneous workers’ union. (4) Did I ask Treasury to specifically look at contract cleaning? I will tell the house what we have done. We have established a process called value-for-money audits. In the first instance, the value-for-money audits will be looking at the Department of Health, the Department of Education and Training, the Department of Commerce and the Department of Environment and Conservation. I expect that the auditors will go through and, on a line-by-line basis, review government expenditure and provide us with advice on where they see there being better value for money. I do not resile from the fact that we have an obligation to the taxpayers of Western Australia to deliver the best value-for-money outcomes that we can. (5) Part (5) of the member’s question was whether we will allow contract cleaning. The member’s government allowed contract cleaning in schools. The policy that existed under the member’s government, to the best of my information, is still available to schools today. I want to explain some history to the house, because it is very, very interesting. There was a time in Western Australia — Mr M. McGowan : It was wound back. Mr T.R. BUSWELL : I know that. There can still be contract cleaners. Mr M. McGowan : It was there when we arrived in office, and it was wound back, so what you said is actually misleading. Mr T.R. BUSWELL : There was a time in Western Australia when the schools were cleaned by contract cleaners. Under the former government, the original Minister for Education, the member for Willagee, thought that was a good set of arrangements. He was under enormous pressure from the miscellaneous workers’ union. It threatened to run him out of his seat. It threatened to do all sorts of things because he refused to yield to the union’s demands that those contract cleaners be replaced by a day labour force in schools. What does “day labour force” mean? It means that a person is a member of the miscellaneous workers’ union. It was a policy designed to force about 2 600 Western Australian workers into membership of the miscellaneous workers’ union. They would then pay their weekly membership fee, which flowed to the miscellaneous workers’ union, and some of which flowed back to the Australian Labor Party as donations for election campaigns. Anyway, here is the point. That required extra funding. It required more than $5 million of extra funding in two budget years. I am sure the former Treasurer will recall that. It required $2.8 million in 2005-06 and $3.3 million in 2006-07. My advice is that the cost of that policy — Mr E.S. Ripper interjected. The SPEAKER : Leader of the Opposition! Mr T.R. BUSWELL : I will tell members opposite something. When people turn up at a school with their kids, do members opposite seriously think that that is the first thing in their minds as they pull into the parking bay in the morning? They want a decent school, they want well-paid teachers and they want good educational infrastructure. Do they care if the people cleaning the school belong to the miscellaneous workers’ union? No, they do not. They pay taxes in this state and they want value for money. Notwithstanding all that, no policy decision of this government has been made to change tack regarding the widespread reintroduction of contract cleaning in schools and in the health system. However, I must say also that we have an obligation to deliver quality educational outcomes, and we have an obligation to deliver value for money for Western Australian taxpayers. Do members know what? Do they know what I keep telling the agency when we talk about wage negotiations with the miscellaneous workers’ union? The people down there in Commerce are nervous. They say so. I tell them not to worry, because when we look at the miscellaneous workers’ union office in Thomas Street, we do not see any little strings coming out of Dave Kelly’s office pulling our hands and making our mouths move. None of us has to respond politically—not like the member for Kwinana and not like the member for Nollamara. None of us—no-one on this side—owes our political future to Dave Kelly, and nor does my friend the member for Bassendean. That is why he nearly lost his seat. The SPEAKER : Thank you, members. I presume that the member for Cockburn has a supplementary question to ask.
(2) Can the minister confirm that at that meeting the association urged the state government to privatise cleaning services in public hospitals and/or schools? (3) Can the minister confirm that his office ordered the Department of Commerce’s labour relations division to provide a report on the industrial impacts of privatising school and hospital cleaning? (4) Can the minister confirm that his office ordered the Department of Treasury and Finance to provide him with a report on the financial implications of privatising school and hospital cleaning? (5) Will the minister rule out privatised cleaning in government schools and hospitals? Mr T.R. BUSWELL replied: I will give the short answers to the five questions, as best I recall them, and then I will make some other comments. The short answers are as follows — (1) Yes. (2) Yes. Why would independent contractors not come to the government and ask it to use independent contractors? I would have thought it was quite odd if they had come to us, after a meeting with me, and said, “We want a meeting with the Minister for Commerce and Treasurer, and we don’t want to talk about our business.” Anyway, funnier things have happened. (3) No. I think that question was whether I have asked the Department of Commerce for a review of the industrial implications. I am pretty sure that I could work out what the industrial implications would be. That is not saying I am worried about that, but I am pretty sure I could work out what they would be from the miscellaneous workers’ union. (4) Did I ask Treasury to specifically look at contract cleaning? I will tell the house what we have done. We have established a process called value-for-money audits. In the first instance, the value-for-money audits will be looking at the Department of Health, the Department of Education and Training, the Department of Commerce and the Department of Environment and Conservation. I expect that the auditors will go through and, on a line-by-line basis, review government expenditure and provide us with advice on where they see there being better value for money. I do not resile from the fact that we have an obligation to the taxpayers of Western Australia to deliver the best value-for-money outcomes that we can. (5) Part (5) of the member’s question was whether we will allow contract cleaning. The member’s government allowed contract cleaning in schools. The policy that existed under the member’s government, to the best of my information, is still available to schools today. I want to explain some history to the house, because it is very, very interesting. There was a time in Western Australia — Mr M. McGowan : It was wound back. Mr T.R. BUSWELL : I know that. There can still be contract cleaners. Mr M. McGowan : It was there when we arrived in office, and it was wound back, so what you said is actually misleading. Mr T.R. BUSWELL : There was a time in Western Australia when the schools were cleaned by contract cleaners. Under the former government, the original Minister for Education, the member for Willagee, thought that was a good set of arrangements. He was under enormous pressure from the miscellaneous workers’ union. It threatened to run him out of his seat. It threatened to do all sorts of things because he refused to yield to the union’s demands that those contract cleaners be replaced by a day labour force in schools. What does “day labour force” mean? It means that a person is a member of the miscellaneous workers’ union. It was a policy designed to force about 2 600 Western Australian workers into membership of the miscellaneous workers’ union. They would then pay their weekly membership fee, which flowed to the miscellaneous workers’ union, and some of which flowed back to the Australian Labor Party as donations for election campaigns. Anyway, here is the point. That required extra funding. It required more than $5 million of extra funding in two budget years. I am sure the former Treasurer will recall that. It required $2.8 million in 2005-06 and $3.3 million in 2006-07. My advice is that the cost of that policy — Mr E.S. Ripper interjected. The SPEAKER : Leader of the Opposition! Mr T.R. BUSWELL : I will tell members opposite something. When people turn up at a school with their kids, do members opposite seriously think that that is the first thing in their minds as they pull into the parking bay in the morning? They want a decent school, they want well-paid teachers and they want good educational infrastructure. Do they care if the people cleaning the school belong to the miscellaneous workers’ union? No, they do not. They pay taxes in this state and they want value for money. Notwithstanding all that, no policy decision of this government has been made to change tack regarding the widespread reintroduction of contract cleaning in schools and in the health system. However, I must say also that we have an obligation to deliver quality educational outcomes, and we have an obligation to deliver value for money for Western Australian taxpayers. Do members know what? Do they know what I keep telling the agency when we talk about wage negotiations with the miscellaneous workers’ union? The people down there in Commerce are nervous. They say so. I tell them not to worry, because when we look at the miscellaneous workers’ union office in Thomas Street, we do not see any little strings coming out of Dave Kelly’s office pulling our hands and making our mouths move. None of us has to respond politically—not like the member for Kwinana and not like the member for Nollamara. None of us—no-one on this side—owes our political future to Dave Kelly, and nor does my friend the member for Bassendean. That is why he nearly lost his seat. The SPEAKER : Thank you, members. I presume that the member for Cockburn has a supplementary question to ask.
(3) Can the minister confirm that his office ordered the Department of Commerce’s labour relations division to provide a report on the industrial impacts of privatising school and hospital cleaning? (4) Can the minister confirm that his office ordered the Department of Treasury and Finance to provide him with a report on the financial implications of privatising school and hospital cleaning? (5) Will the minister rule out privatised cleaning in government schools and hospitals? Mr T.R. BUSWELL replied: I will give the short answers to the five questions, as best I recall them, and then I will make some other comments. The short answers are as follows — (1) Yes. (2) Yes. Why would independent contractors not come to the government and ask it to use independent contractors? I would have thought it was quite odd if they had come to us, after a meeting with me, and said, “We want a meeting with the Minister for Commerce and Treasurer, and we don’t want to talk about our business.” Anyway, funnier things have happened. (3) No. I think that question was whether I have asked the Department of Commerce for a review of the industrial implications. I am pretty sure that I could work out what the industrial implications would be. That is not saying I am worried about that, but I am pretty sure I could work out what they would be from the miscellaneous workers’ union. (4) Did I ask Treasury to specifically look at contract cleaning? I will tell the house what we have done. We have established a process called value-for-money audits. In the first instance, the value-for-money audits will be looking at the Department of Health, the Department of Education and Training, the Department of Commerce and the Department of Environment and Conservation. I expect that the auditors will go through and, on a line-by-line basis, review government expenditure and provide us with advice on where they see there being better value for money. I do not resile from the fact that we have an obligation to the taxpayers of Western Australia to deliver the best value-for-money outcomes that we can. (5) Part (5) of the member’s question was whether we will allow contract cleaning. The member’s government allowed contract cleaning in schools. The policy that existed under the member’s government, to the best of my information, is still available to schools today. I want to explain some history to the house, because it is very, very interesting. There was a time in Western Australia — Mr M. McGowan : It was wound back. Mr T.R. BUSWELL : I know that. There can still be contract cleaners. Mr M. McGowan : It was there when we arrived in office, and it was wound back, so what you said is actually misleading. Mr T.R. BUSWELL : There was a time in Western Australia when the schools were cleaned by contract cleaners. Under the former government, the original Minister for Education, the member for Willagee, thought that was a good set of arrangements. He was under enormous pressure from the miscellaneous workers’ union. It threatened to run him out of his seat. It threatened to do all sorts of things because he refused to yield to the union’s demands that those contract cleaners be replaced by a day labour force in schools. What does “day labour force” mean? It means that a person is a member of the miscellaneous workers’ union. It was a policy designed to force about 2 600 Western Australian workers into membership of the miscellaneous workers’ union. They would then pay their weekly membership fee, which flowed to the miscellaneous workers’ union, and some of which flowed back to the Australian Labor Party as donations for election campaigns. Anyway, here is the point. That required extra funding. It required more than $5 million of extra funding in two budget years. I am sure the former Treasurer will recall that. It required $2.8 million in 2005-06 and $3.3 million in 2006-07. My advice is that the cost of that policy — Mr E.S. Ripper interjected. The SPEAKER : Leader of the Opposition! Mr T.R. BUSWELL : I will tell members opposite something. When people turn up at a school with their kids, do members opposite seriously think that that is the first thing in their minds as they pull into the parking bay in the morning? They want a decent school, they want well-paid teachers and they want good educational infrastructure. Do they care if the people cleaning the school belong to the miscellaneous workers’ union? No, they do not. They pay taxes in this state and they want value for money. Notwithstanding all that, no policy decision of this government has been made to change tack regarding the widespread reintroduction of contract cleaning in schools and in the health system. However, I must say also that we have an obligation to deliver quality educational outcomes, and we have an obligation to deliver value for money for Western Australian taxpayers. Do members know what? Do they know what I keep telling the agency when we talk about wage negotiations with the miscellaneous workers’ union? The people down there in Commerce are nervous. They say so. I tell them not to worry, because when we look at the miscellaneous workers’ union office in Thomas Street, we do not see any little strings coming out of Dave Kelly’s office pulling our hands and making our mouths move. None of us has to respond politically—not like the member for Kwinana and not like the member for Nollamara. None of us—no-one on this side—owes our political future to Dave Kelly, and nor does my friend the member for Bassendean. That is why he nearly lost his seat. The SPEAKER : Thank you, members. I presume that the member for Cockburn has a supplementary question to ask.
(4) Can the minister confirm that his office ordered the Department of Treasury and Finance to provide him with a report on the financial implications of privatising school and hospital cleaning? (5) Will the minister rule out privatised cleaning in government schools and hospitals? Mr T.R. BUSWELL replied: I will give the short answers to the five questions, as best I recall them, and then I will make some other comments. The short answers are as follows — (1) Yes. (2) Yes. Why would independent contractors not come to the government and ask it to use independent contractors? I would have thought it was quite odd if they had come to us, after a meeting with me, and said, “We want a meeting with the Minister for Commerce and Treasurer, and we don’t want to talk about our business.” Anyway, funnier things have happened. (3) No. I think that question was whether I have asked the Department of Commerce for a review of the industrial implications. I am pretty sure that I could work out what the industrial implications would be. That is not saying I am worried about that, but I am pretty sure I could work out what they would be from the miscellaneous workers’ union. (4) Did I ask Treasury to specifically look at contract cleaning? I will tell the house what we have done. We have established a process called value-for-money audits. In the first instance, the value-for-money audits will be looking at the Department of Health, the Department of Education and Training, the Department of Commerce and the Department of Environment and Conservation. I expect that the auditors will go through and, on a line-by-line basis, review government expenditure and provide us with advice on where they see there being better value for money. I do not resile from the fact that we have an obligation to the taxpayers of Western Australia to deliver the best value-for-money outcomes that we can. (5) Part (5) of the member’s question was whether we will allow contract cleaning. The member’s government allowed contract cleaning in schools. The policy that existed under the member’s government, to the best of my information, is still available to schools today. I want to explain some history to the house, because it is very, very interesting. There was a time in Western Australia — Mr M. McGowan : It was wound back. Mr T.R. BUSWELL : I know that. There can still be contract cleaners. Mr M. McGowan : It was there when we arrived in office, and it was wound back, so what you said is actually misleading. Mr T.R. BUSWELL : There was a time in Western Australia when the schools were cleaned by contract cleaners. Under the former government, the original Minister for Education, the member for Willagee, thought that was a good set of arrangements. He was under enormous pressure from the miscellaneous workers’ union. It threatened to run him out of his seat. It threatened to do all sorts of things because he refused to yield to the union’s demands that those contract cleaners be replaced by a day labour force in schools. What does “day labour force” mean? It means that a person is a member of the miscellaneous workers’ union. It was a policy designed to force about 2 600 Western Australian workers into membership of the miscellaneous workers’ union. They would then pay their weekly membership fee, which flowed to the miscellaneous workers’ union, and some of which flowed back to the Australian Labor Party as donations for election campaigns. Anyway, here is the point. That required extra funding. It required more than $5 million of extra funding in two budget years. I am sure the former Treasurer will recall that. It required $2.8 million in 2005-06 and $3.3 million in 2006-07. My advice is that the cost of that policy — Mr E.S. Ripper interjected. The SPEAKER : Leader of the Opposition! Mr T.R. BUSWELL : I will tell members opposite something. When people turn up at a school with their kids, do members opposite seriously think that that is the first thing in their minds as they pull into the parking bay in the morning? They want a decent school, they want well-paid teachers and they want good educational infrastructure. Do they care if the people cleaning the school belong to the miscellaneous workers’ union? No, they do not. They pay taxes in this state and they want value for money. Notwithstanding all that, no policy decision of this government has been made to change tack regarding the widespread reintroduction of contract cleaning in schools and in the health system. However, I must say also that we have an obligation to deliver quality educational outcomes, and we have an obligation to deliver value for money for Western Australian taxpayers. Do members know what? Do they know what I keep telling the agency when we talk about wage negotiations with the miscellaneous workers’ union? The people down there in Commerce are nervous. They say so. I tell them not to worry, because when we look at the miscellaneous workers’ union office in Thomas Street, we do not see any little strings coming out of Dave Kelly’s office pulling our hands and making our mouths move. None of us has to respond politically—not like the member for Kwinana and not like the member for Nollamara. None of us—no-one on this side—owes our political future to Dave Kelly, and nor does my friend the member for Bassendean. That is why he nearly lost his seat. The SPEAKER : Thank you, members. I presume that the member for Cockburn has a supplementary question to ask.
(5) Will the minister rule out privatised cleaning in government schools and hospitals? Mr T.R. BUSWELL replied: I will give the short answers to the five questions, as best I recall them, and then I will make some other comments. The short answers are as follows — (1) Yes. (2) Yes. Why would independent contractors not come to the government and ask it to use independent contractors? I would have thought it was quite odd if they had come to us, after a meeting with me, and said, “We want a meeting with the Minister for Commerce and Treasurer, and we don’t want to talk about our business.” Anyway, funnier things have happened. (3) No. I think that question was whether I have asked the Department of Commerce for a review of the industrial implications. I am pretty sure that I could work out what the industrial implications would be. That is not saying I am worried about that, but I am pretty sure I could work out what they would be from the miscellaneous workers’ union. (4) Did I ask Treasury to specifically look at contract cleaning? I will tell the house what we have done. We have established a process called value-for-money audits. In the first instance, the value-for-money audits will be looking at the Department of Health, the Department of Education and Training, the Department of Commerce and the Department of Environment and Conservation. I expect that the auditors will go through and, on a line-by-line basis, review government expenditure and provide us with advice on where they see there being better value for money. I do not resile from the fact that we have an obligation to the taxpayers of Western Australia to deliver the best value-for-money outcomes that we can. (5) Part (5) of the member’s question was whether we will allow contract cleaning. The member’s government allowed contract cleaning in schools. The policy that existed under the member’s government, to the best of my information, is still available to schools today. I want to explain some history to the house, because it is very, very interesting. There was a time in Western Australia — Mr M. McGowan : It was wound back. Mr T.R. BUSWELL : I know that. There can still be contract cleaners. Mr M. McGowan : It was there when we arrived in office, and it was wound back, so what you said is actually misleading. Mr T.R. BUSWELL : There was a time in Western Australia when the schools were cleaned by contract cleaners. Under the former government, the original Minister for Education, the member for Willagee, thought that was a good set of arrangements. He was under enormous pressure from the miscellaneous workers’ union. It threatened to run him out of his seat. It threatened to do all sorts of things because he refused to yield to the union’s demands that those contract cleaners be replaced by a day labour force in schools. What does “day labour force” mean? It means that a person is a member of the miscellaneous workers’ union. It was a policy designed to force about 2 600 Western Australian workers into membership of the miscellaneous workers’ union. They would then pay their weekly membership fee, which flowed to the miscellaneous workers’ union, and some of which flowed back to the Australian Labor Party as donations for election campaigns. Anyway, here is the point. That required extra funding. It required more than $5 million of extra funding in two budget years. I am sure the former Treasurer will recall that. It required $2.8 million in 2005-06 and $3.3 million in 2006-07. My advice is that the cost of that policy — Mr E.S. Ripper interjected. The SPEAKER : Leader of the Opposition! Mr T.R. BUSWELL : I will tell members opposite something. When people turn up at a school with their kids, do members opposite seriously think that that is the first thing in their minds as they pull into the parking bay in the morning? They want a decent school, they want well-paid teachers and they want good educational infrastructure. Do they care if the people cleaning the school belong to the miscellaneous workers’ union? No, they do not. They pay taxes in this state and they want value for money. Notwithstanding all that, no policy decision of this government has been made to change tack regarding the widespread reintroduction of contract cleaning in schools and in the health system. However, I must say also that we have an obligation to deliver quality educational outcomes, and we have an obligation to deliver value for money for Western Australian taxpayers. Do members know what? Do they know what I keep telling the agency when we talk about wage negotiations with the miscellaneous workers’ union? The people down there in Commerce are nervous. They say so. I tell them not to worry, because when we look at the miscellaneous workers’ union office in Thomas Street, we do not see any little strings coming out of Dave Kelly’s office pulling our hands and making our mouths move. None of us has to respond politically—not like the member for Kwinana and not like the member for Nollamara. None of us—no-one on this side—owes our political future to Dave Kelly, and nor does my friend the member for Bassendean. That is why he nearly lost his seat. The SPEAKER : Thank you, members. I presume that the member for Cockburn has a supplementary question to ask.
Mr T.R. BUSWELL replied: I will give the short answers to the five questions, as best I recall them, and then I will make some other comments. The short answers are as follows — (1) Yes. (2) Yes. Why would independent contractors not come to the government and ask it to use independent contractors? I would have thought it was quite odd if they had come to us, after a meeting with me, and said, “We want a meeting with the Minister for Commerce and Treasurer, and we don’t want to talk about our business.” Anyway, funnier things have happened. (3) No. I think that question was whether I have asked the Department of Commerce for a review of the industrial implications. I am pretty sure that I could work out what the industrial implications would be. That is not saying I am worried about that, but I am pretty sure I could work out what they would be from the miscellaneous workers’ union. (4) Did I ask Treasury to specifically look at contract cleaning? I will tell the house what we have done. We have established a process called value-for-money audits. In the first instance, the value-for-money audits will be looking at the Department of Health, the Department of Education and Training, the Department of Commerce and the Department of Environment and Conservation. I expect that the auditors will go through and, on a line-by-line basis, review government expenditure and provide us with advice on where they see there being better value for money. I do not resile from the fact that we have an obligation to the taxpayers of Western Australia to deliver the best value-for-money outcomes that we can. (5) Part (5) of the member’s question was whether we will allow contract cleaning. The member’s government allowed contract cleaning in schools. The policy that existed under the member’s government, to the best of my information, is still available to schools today. I want to explain some history to the house, because it is very, very interesting. There was a time in Western Australia — Mr M. McGowan : It was wound back. Mr T.R. BUSWELL : I know that. There can still be contract cleaners. Mr M. McGowan : It was there when we arrived in office, and it was wound back, so what you said is actually misleading. Mr T.R. BUSWELL : There was a time in Western Australia when the schools were cleaned by contract cleaners. Under the former government, the original Minister for Education, the member for Willagee, thought that was a good set of arrangements. He was under enormous pressure from the miscellaneous workers’ union. It threatened to run him out of his seat. It threatened to do all sorts of things because he refused to yield to the union’s demands that those contract cleaners be replaced by a day labour force in schools. What does “day labour force” mean? It means that a person is a member of the miscellaneous workers’ union. It was a policy designed to force about 2 600 Western Australian workers into membership of the miscellaneous workers’ union. They would then pay their weekly membership fee, which flowed to the miscellaneous workers’ union, and some of which flowed back to the Australian Labor Party as donations for election campaigns. Anyway, here is the point. That required extra funding. It required more than $5 million of extra funding in two budget years. I am sure the former Treasurer will recall that. It required $2.8 million in 2005-06 and $3.3 million in 2006-07. My advice is that the cost of that policy — Mr E.S. Ripper interjected. The SPEAKER : Leader of the Opposition! Mr T.R. BUSWELL : I will tell members opposite something. When people turn up at a school with their kids, do members opposite seriously think that that is the first thing in their minds as they pull into the parking bay in the morning? They want a decent school, they want well-paid teachers and they want good educational infrastructure. Do they care if the people cleaning the school belong to the miscellaneous workers’ union? No, they do not. They pay taxes in this state and they want value for money. Notwithstanding all that, no policy decision of this government has been made to change tack regarding the widespread reintroduction of contract cleaning in schools and in the health system. However, I must say also that we have an obligation to deliver quality educational outcomes, and we have an obligation to deliver value for money for Western Australian taxpayers. Do members know what? Do they know what I keep telling the agency when we talk about wage negotiations with the miscellaneous workers’ union? The people down there in Commerce are nervous. They say so. I tell them not to worry, because when we look at the miscellaneous workers’ union office in Thomas Street, we do not see any little strings coming out of Dave Kelly’s office pulling our hands and making our mouths move. None of us has to respond politically—not like the member for Kwinana and not like the member for Nollamara. None of us—no-one on this side—owes our political future to Dave Kelly, and nor does my friend the member for Bassendean. That is why he nearly lost his seat. The SPEAKER : Thank you, members. I presume that the member for Cockburn has a supplementary question to ask.
I will give the short answers to the five questions, as best I recall them, and then I will make some other comments. The short answers are as follows — (1) Yes. (2) Yes. Why would independent contractors not come to the government and ask it to use independent contractors? I would have thought it was quite odd if they had come to us, after a meeting with me, and said, “We want a meeting with the Minister for Commerce and Treasurer, and we don’t want to talk about our business.” Anyway, funnier things have happened. (3) No. I think that question was whether I have asked the Department of Commerce for a review of the industrial implications. I am pretty sure that I could work out what the industrial implications would be. That is not saying I am worried about that, but I am pretty sure I could work out what they would be from the miscellaneous workers’ union. (4) Did I ask Treasury to specifically look at contract cleaning? I will tell the house what we have done. We have established a process called value-for-money audits. In the first instance, the value-for-money audits will be looking at the Department of Health, the Department of Education and Training, the Department of Commerce and the Department of Environment and Conservation. I expect that the auditors will go through and, on a line-by-line basis, review government expenditure and provide us with advice on where they see there being better value for money. I do not resile from the fact that we have an obligation to the taxpayers of Western Australia to deliver the best value-for-money outcomes that we can. (5) Part (5) of the member’s question was whether we will allow contract cleaning. The member’s government allowed contract cleaning in schools. The policy that existed under the member’s government, to the best of my information, is still available to schools today. I want to explain some history to the house, because it is very, very interesting. There was a time in Western Australia — Mr M. McGowan : It was wound back. Mr T.R. BUSWELL : I know that. There can still be contract cleaners. Mr M. McGowan : It was there when we arrived in office, and it was wound back, so what you said is actually misleading. Mr T.R. BUSWELL : There was a time in Western Australia when the schools were cleaned by contract cleaners. Under the former government, the original Minister for Education, the member for Willagee, thought that was a good set of arrangements. He was under enormous pressure from the miscellaneous workers’ union. It threatened to run him out of his seat. It threatened to do all sorts of things because he refused to yield to the union’s demands that those contract cleaners be replaced by a day labour force in schools. What does “day labour force” mean? It means that a person is a member of the miscellaneous workers’ union. It was a policy designed to force about 2 600 Western Australian workers into membership of the miscellaneous workers’ union. They would then pay their weekly membership fee, which flowed to the miscellaneous workers’ union, and some of which flowed back to the Australian Labor Party as donations for election campaigns. Anyway, here is the point. That required extra funding. It required more than $5 million of extra funding in two budget years. I am sure the former Treasurer will recall that. It required $2.8 million in 2005-06 and $3.3 million in 2006-07. My advice is that the cost of that policy — Mr E.S. Ripper interjected. The SPEAKER : Leader of the Opposition! Mr T.R. BUSWELL : I will tell members opposite something. When people turn up at a school with their kids, do members opposite seriously think that that is the first thing in their minds as they pull into the parking bay in the morning? They want a decent school, they want well-paid teachers and they want good educational infrastructure. Do they care if the people cleaning the school belong to the miscellaneous workers’ union? No, they do not. They pay taxes in this state and they want value for money. Notwithstanding all that, no policy decision of this government has been made to change tack regarding the widespread reintroduction of contract cleaning in schools and in the health system. However, I must say also that we have an obligation to deliver quality educational outcomes, and we have an obligation to deliver value for money for Western Australian taxpayers. Do members know what? Do they know what I keep telling the agency when we talk about wage negotiations with the miscellaneous workers’ union? The people down there in Commerce are nervous. They say so. I tell them not to worry, because when we look at the miscellaneous workers’ union office in Thomas Street, we do not see any little strings coming out of Dave Kelly’s office pulling our hands and making our mouths move. None of us has to respond politically—not like the member for Kwinana and not like the member for Nollamara. None of us—no-one on this side—owes our political future to Dave Kelly, and nor does my friend the member for Bassendean. That is why he nearly lost his seat. The SPEAKER : Thank you, members. I presume that the member for Cockburn has a supplementary question to ask.
(1) Yes. (2) Yes. Why would independent contractors not come to the government and ask it to use independent contractors? I would have thought it was quite odd if they had come to us, after a meeting with me, and said, “We want a meeting with the Minister for Commerce and Treasurer, and we don’t want to talk about our business.” Anyway, funnier things have happened. (3) No. I think that question was whether I have asked the Department of Commerce for a review of the industrial implications. I am pretty sure that I could work out what the industrial implications would be. That is not saying I am worried about that, but I am pretty sure I could work out what they would be from the miscellaneous workers’ union. (4) Did I ask Treasury to specifically look at contract cleaning? I will tell the house what we have done. We have established a process called value-for-money audits. In the first instance, the value-for-money audits will be looking at the Department of Health, the Department of Education and Training, the Department of Commerce and the Department of Environment and Conservation. I expect that the auditors will go through and, on a line-by-line basis, review government expenditure and provide us with advice on where they see there being better value for money. I do not resile from the fact that we have an obligation to the taxpayers of Western Australia to deliver the best value-for-money outcomes that we can. (5) Part (5) of the member’s question was whether we will allow contract cleaning. The member’s government allowed contract cleaning in schools. The policy that existed under the member’s government, to the best of my information, is still available to schools today. I want to explain some history to the house, because it is very, very interesting. There was a time in Western Australia — Mr M. McGowan : It was wound back. Mr T.R. BUSWELL : I know that. There can still be contract cleaners. Mr M. McGowan : It was there when we arrived in office, and it was wound back, so what you said is actually misleading. Mr T.R. BUSWELL : There was a time in Western Australia when the schools were cleaned by contract cleaners. Under the former government, the original Minister for Education, the member for Willagee, thought that was a good set of arrangements. He was under enormous pressure from the miscellaneous workers’ union. It threatened to run him out of his seat. It threatened to do all sorts of things because he refused to yield to the union’s demands that those contract cleaners be replaced by a day labour force in schools. What does “day labour force” mean? It means that a person is a member of the miscellaneous workers’ union. It was a policy designed to force about 2 600 Western Australian workers into membership of the miscellaneous workers’ union. They would then pay their weekly membership fee, which flowed to the miscellaneous workers’ union, and some of which flowed back to the Australian Labor Party as donations for election campaigns. Anyway, here is the point. That required extra funding. It required more than $5 million of extra funding in two budget years. I am sure the former Treasurer will recall that. It required $2.8 million in 2005-06 and $3.3 million in 2006-07. My advice is that the cost of that policy — Mr E.S. Ripper interjected. The SPEAKER : Leader of the Opposition! Mr T.R. BUSWELL : I will tell members opposite something. When people turn up at a school with their kids, do members opposite seriously think that that is the first thing in their minds as they pull into the parking bay in the morning? They want a decent school, they want well-paid teachers and they want good educational infrastructure. Do they care if the people cleaning the school belong to the miscellaneous workers’ union? No, they do not. They pay taxes in this state and they want value for money. Notwithstanding all that, no policy decision of this government has been made to change tack regarding the widespread reintroduction of contract cleaning in schools and in the health system. However, I must say also that we have an obligation to deliver quality educational outcomes, and we have an obligation to deliver value for money for Western Australian taxpayers. Do members know what? Do they know what I keep telling the agency when we talk about wage negotiations with the miscellaneous workers’ union? The people down there in Commerce are nervous. They say so. I tell them not to worry, because when we look at the miscellaneous workers’ union office in Thomas Street, we do not see any little strings coming out of Dave Kelly’s office pulling our hands and making our mouths move. None of us has to respond politically—not like the member for Kwinana and not like the member for Nollamara. None of us—no-one on this side—owes our political future to Dave Kelly, and nor does my friend the member for Bassendean. That is why he nearly lost his seat. The SPEAKER : Thank you, members. I presume that the member for Cockburn has a supplementary question to ask.
(2) Yes. Why would independent contractors not come to the government and ask it to use independent contractors? I would have thought it was quite odd if they had come to us, after a meeting with me, and said, “We want a meeting with the Minister for Commerce and Treasurer, and we don’t want to talk about our business.” Anyway, funnier things have happened. (3) No. I think that question was whether I have asked the Department of Commerce for a review of the industrial implications. I am pretty sure that I could work out what the industrial implications would be. That is not saying I am worried about that, but I am pretty sure I could work out what they would be from the miscellaneous workers’ union. (4) Did I ask Treasury to specifically look at contract cleaning? I will tell the house what we have done. We have established a process called value-for-money audits. In the first instance, the value-for-money audits will be looking at the Department of Health, the Department of Education and Training, the Department of Commerce and the Department of Environment and Conservation. I expect that the auditors will go through and, on a line-by-line basis, review government expenditure and provide us with advice on where they see there being better value for money. I do not resile from the fact that we have an obligation to the taxpayers of Western Australia to deliver the best value-for-money outcomes that we can. (5) Part (5) of the member’s question was whether we will allow contract cleaning. The member’s government allowed contract cleaning in schools. The policy that existed under the member’s government, to the best of my information, is still available to schools today. I want to explain some history to the house, because it is very, very interesting. There was a time in Western Australia — Mr M. McGowan : It was wound back. Mr T.R. BUSWELL : I know that. There can still be contract cleaners. Mr M. McGowan : It was there when we arrived in office, and it was wound back, so what you said is actually misleading. Mr T.R. BUSWELL : There was a time in Western Australia when the schools were cleaned by contract cleaners. Under the former government, the original Minister for Education, the member for Willagee, thought that was a good set of arrangements. He was under enormous pressure from the miscellaneous workers’ union. It threatened to run him out of his seat. It threatened to do all sorts of things because he refused to yield to the union’s demands that those contract cleaners be replaced by a day labour force in schools. What does “day labour force” mean? It means that a person is a member of the miscellaneous workers’ union. It was a policy designed to force about 2 600 Western Australian workers into membership of the miscellaneous workers’ union. They would then pay their weekly membership fee, which flowed to the miscellaneous workers’ union, and some of which flowed back to the Australian Labor Party as donations for election campaigns. Anyway, here is the point. That required extra funding. It required more than $5 million of extra funding in two budget years. I am sure the former Treasurer will recall that. It required $2.8 million in 2005-06 and $3.3 million in 2006-07. My advice is that the cost of that policy — Mr E.S. Ripper interjected. The SPEAKER : Leader of the Opposition! Mr T.R. BUSWELL : I will tell members opposite something. When people turn up at a school with their kids, do members opposite seriously think that that is the first thing in their minds as they pull into the parking bay in the morning? They want a decent school, they want well-paid teachers and they want good educational infrastructure. Do they care if the people cleaning the school belong to the miscellaneous workers’ union? No, they do not. They pay taxes in this state and they want value for money. Notwithstanding all that, no policy decision of this government has been made to change tack regarding the widespread reintroduction of contract cleaning in schools and in the health system. However, I must say also that we have an obligation to deliver quality educational outcomes, and we have an obligation to deliver value for money for Western Australian taxpayers. Do members know what? Do they know what I keep telling the agency when we talk about wage negotiations with the miscellaneous workers’ union? The people down there in Commerce are nervous. They say so. I tell them not to worry, because when we look at the miscellaneous workers’ union office in Thomas Street, we do not see any little strings coming out of Dave Kelly’s office pulling our hands and making our mouths move. None of us has to respond politically—not like the member for Kwinana and not like the member for Nollamara. None of us—no-one on this side—owes our political future to Dave Kelly, and nor does my friend the member for Bassendean. That is why he nearly lost his seat. The SPEAKER : Thank you, members. I presume that the member for Cockburn has a supplementary question to ask.
(3) No. I think that question was whether I have asked the Department of Commerce for a review of the industrial implications. I am pretty sure that I could work out what the industrial implications would be. That is not saying I am worried about that, but I am pretty sure I could work out what they would be from the miscellaneous workers’ union. (4) Did I ask Treasury to specifically look at contract cleaning? I will tell the house what we have done. We have established a process called value-for-money audits. In the first instance, the value-for-money audits will be looking at the Department of Health, the Department of Education and Training, the Department of Commerce and the Department of Environment and Conservation. I expect that the auditors will go through and, on a line-by-line basis, review government expenditure and provide us with advice on where they see there being better value for money. I do not resile from the fact that we have an obligation to the taxpayers of Western Australia to deliver the best value-for-money outcomes that we can. (5) Part (5) of the member’s question was whether we will allow contract cleaning. The member’s government allowed contract cleaning in schools. The policy that existed under the member’s government, to the best of my information, is still available to schools today. I want to explain some history to the house, because it is very, very interesting. There was a time in Western Australia — Mr M. McGowan : It was wound back. Mr T.R. BUSWELL : I know that. There can still be contract cleaners. Mr M. McGowan : It was there when we arrived in office, and it was wound back, so what you said is actually misleading. Mr T.R. BUSWELL : There was a time in Western Australia when the schools were cleaned by contract cleaners. Under the former government, the original Minister for Education, the member for Willagee, thought that was a good set of arrangements. He was under enormous pressure from the miscellaneous workers’ union. It threatened to run him out of his seat. It threatened to do all sorts of things because he refused to yield to the union’s demands that those contract cleaners be replaced by a day labour force in schools. What does “day labour force” mean? It means that a person is a member of the miscellaneous workers’ union. It was a policy designed to force about 2 600 Western Australian workers into membership of the miscellaneous workers’ union. They would then pay their weekly membership fee, which flowed to the miscellaneous workers’ union, and some of which flowed back to the Australian Labor Party as donations for election campaigns. Anyway, here is the point. That required extra funding. It required more than $5 million of extra funding in two budget years. I am sure the former Treasurer will recall that. It required $2.8 million in 2005-06 and $3.3 million in 2006-07. My advice is that the cost of that policy — Mr E.S. Ripper interjected. The SPEAKER : Leader of the Opposition! Mr T.R. BUSWELL : I will tell members opposite something. When people turn up at a school with their kids, do members opposite seriously think that that is the first thing in their minds as they pull into the parking bay in the morning? They want a decent school, they want well-paid teachers and they want good educational infrastructure. Do they care if the people cleaning the school belong to the miscellaneous workers’ union? No, they do not. They pay taxes in this state and they want value for money. Notwithstanding all that, no policy decision of this government has been made to change tack regarding the widespread reintroduction of contract cleaning in schools and in the health system. However, I must say also that we have an obligation to deliver quality educational outcomes, and we have an obligation to deliver value for money for Western Australian taxpayers. Do members know what? Do they know what I keep telling the agency when we talk about wage negotiations with the miscellaneous workers’ union? The people down there in Commerce are nervous. They say so. I tell them not to worry, because when we look at the miscellaneous workers’ union office in Thomas Street, we do not see any little strings coming out of Dave Kelly’s office pulling our hands and making our mouths move. None of us has to respond politically—not like the member for Kwinana and not like the member for Nollamara. None of us—no-one on this side—owes our political future to Dave Kelly, and nor does my friend the member for Bassendean. That is why he nearly lost his seat. The SPEAKER : Thank you, members. I presume that the member for Cockburn has a supplementary question to ask.
(4) Did I ask Treasury to specifically look at contract cleaning? I will tell the house what we have done. We have established a process called value-for-money audits. In the first instance, the value-for-money audits will be looking at the Department of Health, the Department of Education and Training, the Department of Commerce and the Department of Environment and Conservation. I expect that the auditors will go through and, on a line-by-line basis, review government expenditure and provide us with advice on where they see there being better value for money. I do not resile from the fact that we have an obligation to the taxpayers of Western Australia to deliver the best value-for-money outcomes that we can. (5) Part (5) of the member’s question was whether we will allow contract cleaning. The member’s government allowed contract cleaning in schools. The policy that existed under the member’s government, to the best of my information, is still available to schools today. I want to explain some history to the house, because it is very, very interesting. There was a time in Western Australia — Mr M. McGowan : It was wound back. Mr T.R. BUSWELL : I know that. There can still be contract cleaners. Mr M. McGowan : It was there when we arrived in office, and it was wound back, so what you said is actually misleading. Mr T.R. BUSWELL : There was a time in Western Australia when the schools were cleaned by contract cleaners. Under the former government, the original Minister for Education, the member for Willagee, thought that was a good set of arrangements. He was under enormous pressure from the miscellaneous workers’ union. It threatened to run him out of his seat. It threatened to do all sorts of things because he refused to yield to the union’s demands that those contract cleaners be replaced by a day labour force in schools. What does “day labour force” mean? It means that a person is a member of the miscellaneous workers’ union. It was a policy designed to force about 2 600 Western Australian workers into membership of the miscellaneous workers’ union. They would then pay their weekly membership fee, which flowed to the miscellaneous workers’ union, and some of which flowed back to the Australian Labor Party as donations for election campaigns. Anyway, here is the point. That required extra funding. It required more than $5 million of extra funding in two budget years. I am sure the former Treasurer will recall that. It required $2.8 million in 2005-06 and $3.3 million in 2006-07. My advice is that the cost of that policy — Mr E.S. Ripper interjected. The SPEAKER : Leader of the Opposition! Mr T.R. BUSWELL : I will tell members opposite something. When people turn up at a school with their kids, do members opposite seriously think that that is the first thing in their minds as they pull into the parking bay in the morning? They want a decent school, they want well-paid teachers and they want good educational infrastructure. Do they care if the people cleaning the school belong to the miscellaneous workers’ union? No, they do not. They pay taxes in this state and they want value for money. Notwithstanding all that, no policy decision of this government has been made to change tack regarding the widespread reintroduction of contract cleaning in schools and in the health system. However, I must say also that we have an obligation to deliver quality educational outcomes, and we have an obligation to deliver value for money for Western Australian taxpayers. Do members know what? Do they know what I keep telling the agency when we talk about wage negotiations with the miscellaneous workers’ union? The people down there in Commerce are nervous. They say so. I tell them not to worry, because when we look at the miscellaneous workers’ union office in Thomas Street, we do not see any little strings coming out of Dave Kelly’s office pulling our hands and making our mouths move. None of us has to respond politically—not like the member for Kwinana and not like the member for Nollamara. None of us—no-one on this side—owes our political future to Dave Kelly, and nor does my friend the member for Bassendean. That is why he nearly lost his seat. The SPEAKER : Thank you, members. I presume that the member for Cockburn has a supplementary question to ask.
(5) Part (5) of the member’s question was whether we will allow contract cleaning. The member’s government allowed contract cleaning in schools. The policy that existed under the member’s government, to the best of my information, is still available to schools today. I want to explain some history to the house, because it is very, very interesting. There was a time in Western Australia — Mr M. McGowan : It was wound back. Mr T.R. BUSWELL : I know that. There can still be contract cleaners. Mr M. McGowan : It was there when we arrived in office, and it was wound back, so what you said is actually misleading. Mr T.R. BUSWELL : There was a time in Western Australia when the schools were cleaned by contract cleaners. Under the former government, the original Minister for Education, the member for Willagee, thought that was a good set of arrangements. He was under enormous pressure from the miscellaneous workers’ union. It threatened to run him out of his seat. It threatened to do all sorts of things because he refused to yield to the union’s demands that those contract cleaners be replaced by a day labour force in schools. What does “day labour force” mean? It means that a person is a member of the miscellaneous workers’ union. It was a policy designed to force about 2 600 Western Australian workers into membership of the miscellaneous workers’ union. They would then pay their weekly membership fee, which flowed to the miscellaneous workers’ union, and some of which flowed back to the Australian Labor Party as donations for election campaigns. Anyway, here is the point. That required extra funding. It required more than $5 million of extra funding in two budget years. I am sure the former Treasurer will recall that. It required $2.8 million in 2005-06 and $3.3 million in 2006-07. My advice is that the cost of that policy — Mr E.S. Ripper interjected. The SPEAKER : Leader of the Opposition! Mr T.R. BUSWELL : I will tell members opposite something. When people turn up at a school with their kids, do members opposite seriously think that that is the first thing in their minds as they pull into the parking bay in the morning? They want a decent school, they want well-paid teachers and they want good educational infrastructure. Do they care if the people cleaning the school belong to the miscellaneous workers’ union? No, they do not. They pay taxes in this state and they want value for money. Notwithstanding all that, no policy decision of this government has been made to change tack regarding the widespread reintroduction of contract cleaning in schools and in the health system. However, I must say also that we have an obligation to deliver quality educational outcomes, and we have an obligation to deliver value for money for Western Australian taxpayers. Do members know what? Do they know what I keep telling the agency when we talk about wage negotiations with the miscellaneous workers’ union? The people down there in Commerce are nervous. They say so. I tell them not to worry, because when we look at the miscellaneous workers’ union office in Thomas Street, we do not see any little strings coming out of Dave Kelly’s office pulling our hands and making our mouths move. None of us has to respond politically—not like the member for Kwinana and not like the member for Nollamara. None of us—no-one on this side—owes our political future to Dave Kelly, and nor does my friend the member for Bassendean. That is why he nearly lost his seat. The SPEAKER : Thank you, members. I presume that the member for Cockburn has a supplementary question to ask.
Mr M. McGowan : It was wound back. Mr T.R. BUSWELL : I know that. There can still be contract cleaners. Mr M. McGowan : It was there when we arrived in office, and it was wound back, so what you said is actually misleading. Mr T.R. BUSWELL : There was a time in Western Australia when the schools were cleaned by contract cleaners. Under the former government, the original Minister for Education, the member for Willagee, thought that was a good set of arrangements. He was under enormous pressure from the miscellaneous workers’ union. It threatened to run him out of his seat. It threatened to do all sorts of things because he refused to yield to the union’s demands that those contract cleaners be replaced by a day labour force in schools. What does “day labour force” mean? It means that a person is a member of the miscellaneous workers’ union. It was a policy designed to force about 2 600 Western Australian workers into membership of the miscellaneous workers’ union. They would then pay their weekly membership fee, which flowed to the miscellaneous workers’ union, and some of which flowed back to the Australian Labor Party as donations for election campaigns. Anyway, here is the point. That required extra funding. It required more than $5 million of extra funding in two budget years. I am sure the former Treasurer will recall that. It required $2.8 million in 2005-06 and $3.3 million in 2006-07. My advice is that the cost of that policy — Mr E.S. Ripper interjected. The SPEAKER : Leader of the Opposition! Mr T.R. BUSWELL : I will tell members opposite something. When people turn up at a school with their kids, do members opposite seriously think that that is the first thing in their minds as they pull into the parking bay in the morning? They want a decent school, they want well-paid teachers and they want good educational infrastructure. Do they care if the people cleaning the school belong to the miscellaneous workers’ union? No, they do not. They pay taxes in this state and they want value for money. Notwithstanding all that, no policy decision of this government has been made to change tack regarding the widespread reintroduction of contract cleaning in schools and in the health system. However, I must say also that we have an obligation to deliver quality educational outcomes, and we have an obligation to deliver value for money for Western Australian taxpayers. Do members know what? Do they know what I keep telling the agency when we talk about wage negotiations with the miscellaneous workers’ union? The people down there in Commerce are nervous. They say so. I tell them not to worry, because when we look at the miscellaneous workers’ union office in Thomas Street, we do not see any little strings coming out of Dave Kelly’s office pulling our hands and making our mouths move. None of us has to respond politically—not like the member for Kwinana and not like the member for Nollamara. None of us—no-one on this side—owes our political future to Dave Kelly, and nor does my friend the member for Bassendean. That is why he nearly lost his seat. The SPEAKER : Thank you, members. I presume that the member for Cockburn has a supplementary question to ask.
Mr T.R. BUSWELL : I know that. There can still be contract cleaners. Mr M. McGowan : It was there when we arrived in office, and it was wound back, so what you said is actually misleading. Mr T.R. BUSWELL : There was a time in Western Australia when the schools were cleaned by contract cleaners. Under the former government, the original Minister for Education, the member for Willagee, thought that was a good set of arrangements. He was under enormous pressure from the miscellaneous workers’ union. It threatened to run him out of his seat. It threatened to do all sorts of things because he refused to yield to the union’s demands that those contract cleaners be replaced by a day labour force in schools. What does “day labour force” mean? It means that a person is a member of the miscellaneous workers’ union. It was a policy designed to force about 2 600 Western Australian workers into membership of the miscellaneous workers’ union. They would then pay their weekly membership fee, which flowed to the miscellaneous workers’ union, and some of which flowed back to the Australian Labor Party as donations for election campaigns. Anyway, here is the point. That required extra funding. It required more than $5 million of extra funding in two budget years. I am sure the former Treasurer will recall that. It required $2.8 million in 2005-06 and $3.3 million in 2006-07. My advice is that the cost of that policy — Mr E.S. Ripper interjected. The SPEAKER : Leader of the Opposition! Mr T.R. BUSWELL : I will tell members opposite something. When people turn up at a school with their kids, do members opposite seriously think that that is the first thing in their minds as they pull into the parking bay in the morning? They want a decent school, they want well-paid teachers and they want good educational infrastructure. Do they care if the people cleaning the school belong to the miscellaneous workers’ union? No, they do not. They pay taxes in this state and they want value for money. Notwithstanding all that, no policy decision of this government has been made to change tack regarding the widespread reintroduction of contract cleaning in schools and in the health system. However, I must say also that we have an obligation to deliver quality educational outcomes, and we have an obligation to deliver value for money for Western Australian taxpayers. Do members know what? Do they know what I keep telling the agency when we talk about wage negotiations with the miscellaneous workers’ union? The people down there in Commerce are nervous. They say so. I tell them not to worry, because when we look at the miscellaneous workers’ union office in Thomas Street, we do not see any little strings coming out of Dave Kelly’s office pulling our hands and making our mouths move. None of us has to respond politically—not like the member for Kwinana and not like the member for Nollamara. None of us—no-one on this side—owes our political future to Dave Kelly, and nor does my friend the member for Bassendean. That is why he nearly lost his seat. The SPEAKER : Thank you, members. I presume that the member for Cockburn has a supplementary question to ask.
Mr M. McGowan : It was there when we arrived in office, and it was wound back, so what you said is actually misleading. Mr T.R. BUSWELL : There was a time in Western Australia when the schools were cleaned by contract cleaners. Under the former government, the original Minister for Education, the member for Willagee, thought that was a good set of arrangements. He was under enormous pressure from the miscellaneous workers’ union. It threatened to run him out of his seat. It threatened to do all sorts of things because he refused to yield to the union’s demands that those contract cleaners be replaced by a day labour force in schools. What does “day labour force” mean? It means that a person is a member of the miscellaneous workers’ union. It was a policy designed to force about 2 600 Western Australian workers into membership of the miscellaneous workers’ union. They would then pay their weekly membership fee, which flowed to the miscellaneous workers’ union, and some of which flowed back to the Australian Labor Party as donations for election campaigns. Anyway, here is the point. That required extra funding. It required more than $5 million of extra funding in two budget years. I am sure the former Treasurer will recall that. It required $2.8 million in 2005-06 and $3.3 million in 2006-07. My advice is that the cost of that policy — Mr E.S. Ripper interjected. The SPEAKER : Leader of the Opposition! Mr T.R. BUSWELL : I will tell members opposite something. When people turn up at a school with their kids, do members opposite seriously think that that is the first thing in their minds as they pull into the parking bay in the morning? They want a decent school, they want well-paid teachers and they want good educational infrastructure. Do they care if the people cleaning the school belong to the miscellaneous workers’ union? No, they do not. They pay taxes in this state and they want value for money. Notwithstanding all that, no policy decision of this government has been made to change tack regarding the widespread reintroduction of contract cleaning in schools and in the health system. However, I must say also that we have an obligation to deliver quality educational outcomes, and we have an obligation to deliver value for money for Western Australian taxpayers. Do members know what? Do they know what I keep telling the agency when we talk about wage negotiations with the miscellaneous workers’ union? The people down there in Commerce are nervous. They say so. I tell them not to worry, because when we look at the miscellaneous workers’ union office in Thomas Street, we do not see any little strings coming out of Dave Kelly’s office pulling our hands and making our mouths move. None of us has to respond politically—not like the member for Kwinana and not like the member for Nollamara. None of us—no-one on this side—owes our political future to Dave Kelly, and nor does my friend the member for Bassendean. That is why he nearly lost his seat. The SPEAKER : Thank you, members. I presume that the member for Cockburn has a supplementary question to ask.
Mr T.R. BUSWELL : There was a time in Western Australia when the schools were cleaned by contract cleaners. Under the former government, the original Minister for Education, the member for Willagee, thought that was a good set of arrangements. He was under enormous pressure from the miscellaneous workers’ union. It threatened to run him out of his seat. It threatened to do all sorts of things because he refused to yield to the union’s demands that those contract cleaners be replaced by a day labour force in schools. What does “day labour force” mean? It means that a person is a member of the miscellaneous workers’ union. It was a policy designed to force about 2 600 Western Australian workers into membership of the miscellaneous workers’ union. They would then pay their weekly membership fee, which flowed to the miscellaneous workers’ union, and some of which flowed back to the Australian Labor Party as donations for election campaigns. Anyway, here is the point. That required extra funding. It required more than $5 million of extra funding in two budget years. I am sure the former Treasurer will recall that. It required $2.8 million in 2005-06 and $3.3 million in 2006-07. My advice is that the cost of that policy — Mr E.S. Ripper interjected. The SPEAKER : Leader of the Opposition! Mr T.R. BUSWELL : I will tell members opposite something. When people turn up at a school with their kids, do members opposite seriously think that that is the first thing in their minds as they pull into the parking bay in the morning? They want a decent school, they want well-paid teachers and they want good educational infrastructure. Do they care if the people cleaning the school belong to the miscellaneous workers’ union? No, they do not. They pay taxes in this state and they want value for money. Notwithstanding all that, no policy decision of this government has been made to change tack regarding the widespread reintroduction of contract cleaning in schools and in the health system. However, I must say also that we have an obligation to deliver quality educational outcomes, and we have an obligation to deliver value for money for Western Australian taxpayers. Do members know what? Do they know what I keep telling the agency when we talk about wage negotiations with the miscellaneous workers’ union? The people down there in Commerce are nervous. They say so. I tell them not to worry, because when we look at the miscellaneous workers’ union office in Thomas Street, we do not see any little strings coming out of Dave Kelly’s office pulling our hands and making our mouths move. None of us has to respond politically—not like the member for Kwinana and not like the member for Nollamara. None of us—no-one on this side—owes our political future to Dave Kelly, and nor does my friend the member for Bassendean. That is why he nearly lost his seat. The SPEAKER : Thank you, members. I presume that the member for Cockburn has a supplementary question to ask.
Mr E.S. Ripper interjected. The SPEAKER : Leader of the Opposition! Mr T.R. BUSWELL : I will tell members opposite something. When people turn up at a school with their kids, do members opposite seriously think that that is the first thing in their minds as they pull into the parking bay in the morning? They want a decent school, they want well-paid teachers and they want good educational infrastructure. Do they care if the people cleaning the school belong to the miscellaneous workers’ union? No, they do not. They pay taxes in this state and they want value for money. Notwithstanding all that, no policy decision of this government has been made to change tack regarding the widespread reintroduction of contract cleaning in schools and in the health system. However, I must say also that we have an obligation to deliver quality educational outcomes, and we have an obligation to deliver value for money for Western Australian taxpayers. Do members know what? Do they know what I keep telling the agency when we talk about wage negotiations with the miscellaneous workers’ union? The people down there in Commerce are nervous. They say so. I tell them not to worry, because when we look at the miscellaneous workers’ union office in Thomas Street, we do not see any little strings coming out of Dave Kelly’s office pulling our hands and making our mouths move. None of us has to respond politically—not like the member for Kwinana and not like the member for Nollamara. None of us—no-one on this side—owes our political future to Dave Kelly, and nor does my friend the member for Bassendean. That is why he nearly lost his seat. The SPEAKER : Thank you, members. I presume that the member for Cockburn has a supplementary question to ask.
The SPEAKER : Leader of the Opposition! Mr T.R. BUSWELL : I will tell members opposite something. When people turn up at a school with their kids, do members opposite seriously think that that is the first thing in their minds as they pull into the parking bay in the morning? They want a decent school, they want well-paid teachers and they want good educational infrastructure. Do they care if the people cleaning the school belong to the miscellaneous workers’ union? No, they do not. They pay taxes in this state and they want value for money. Notwithstanding all that, no policy decision of this government has been made to change tack regarding the widespread reintroduction of contract cleaning in schools and in the health system. However, I must say also that we have an obligation to deliver quality educational outcomes, and we have an obligation to deliver value for money for Western Australian taxpayers. Do members know what? Do they know what I keep telling the agency when we talk about wage negotiations with the miscellaneous workers’ union? The people down there in Commerce are nervous. They say so. I tell them not to worry, because when we look at the miscellaneous workers’ union office in Thomas Street, we do not see any little strings coming out of Dave Kelly’s office pulling our hands and making our mouths move. None of us has to respond politically—not like the member for Kwinana and not like the member for Nollamara. None of us—no-one on this side—owes our political future to Dave Kelly, and nor does my friend the member for Bassendean. That is why he nearly lost his seat. The SPEAKER : Thank you, members. I presume that the member for Cockburn has a supplementary question to ask.
Mr T.R. BUSWELL : I will tell members opposite something. When people turn up at a school with their kids, do members opposite seriously think that that is the first thing in their minds as they pull into the parking bay in the morning? They want a decent school, they want well-paid teachers and they want good educational infrastructure. Do they care if the people cleaning the school belong to the miscellaneous workers’ union? No, they do not. They pay taxes in this state and they want value for money. Notwithstanding all that, no policy decision of this government has been made to change tack regarding the widespread reintroduction of contract cleaning in schools and in the health system. However, I must say also that we have an obligation to deliver quality educational outcomes, and we have an obligation to deliver value for money for Western Australian taxpayers. Do members know what? Do they know what I keep telling the agency when we talk about wage negotiations with the miscellaneous workers’ union? The people down there in Commerce are nervous. They say so. I tell them not to worry, because when we look at the miscellaneous workers’ union office in Thomas Street, we do not see any little strings coming out of Dave Kelly’s office pulling our hands and making our mouths move. None of us has to respond politically—not like the member for Kwinana and not like the member for Nollamara. None of us—no-one on this side—owes our political future to Dave Kelly, and nor does my friend the member for Bassendean. That is why he nearly lost his seat. The SPEAKER : Thank you, members. I presume that the member for Cockburn has a supplementary question to ask.
Notwithstanding all that, no policy decision of this government has been made to change tack regarding the widespread reintroduction of contract cleaning in schools and in the health system. However, I must say also that we have an obligation to deliver quality educational outcomes, and we have an obligation to deliver value for money for Western Australian taxpayers. Do members know what? Do they know what I keep telling the agency when we talk about wage negotiations with the miscellaneous workers’ union? The people down there in Commerce are nervous. They say so. I tell them not to worry, because when we look at the miscellaneous workers’ union office in Thomas Street, we do not see any little strings coming out of Dave Kelly’s office pulling our hands and making our mouths move. None of us has to respond politically—not like the member for Kwinana and not like the member for Nollamara. None of us—no-one on this side—owes our political future to Dave Kelly, and nor does my friend the member for Bassendean. That is why he nearly lost his seat. The SPEAKER : Thank you, members. I presume that the member for Cockburn has a supplementary question to ask.
The SPEAKER : Thank you, members. I presume that the member for Cockburn has a supplementary question to ask.
(2) Can the minister confirm that at that meeting the association urged the state government to privatise cleaning services in public hospitals and/or schools? (3) Can the minister confirm that his office ordered the Department of Commerce’s labour relations division to provide a report on the industrial impacts of privatising school and hospital cleaning? (4) Can the minister confirm that his office ordered the Department of Treasury and Finance to provide him with a report on the financial implications of privatising school and hospital cleaning? (5) Will the minister rule out privatised cleaning in government schools and hospitals? Mr T.R. BUSWELL replied: I will give the short answers to the five questions, as best I recall them, and then I will make some other comments. The short answers are as follows — (1) Yes. (2) Yes. Why would independent contractors not come to the government and ask it to use independent contractors? I would have thought it was quite odd if they had come to us, after a meeting with me, and said, “We want a meeting with the Minister for Commerce and Treasurer, and we don’t want to talk about our business.” Anyway, funnier things have happened. (3) No. I think that question was whether I have asked the Department of Commerce for a review of the industrial implications. I am pretty sure that I could work out what the industrial implications would be. That is not saying I am worried about that, but I am pretty sure I could work out what they would be from the miscellaneous workers’ union. (4) Did I ask Treasury to specifically look at contract cleaning? I will tell the house what we have done. We have established a process called value-for-money audits. In the first instance, the value-for-money audits will be looking at the Department of Health, the Department of Education and Training, the Department of Commerce and the Department of Environment and Conservation. I expect that the auditors will go through and, on a line-by-line basis, review government expenditure and provide us with advice on where they see there being better value for money. I do not resile from the fact that we have an obligation to the taxpayers of Western Australia to deliver the best value-for-money outcomes that we can. (5) Part (5) of the member’s question was whether we will allow contract cleaning. The member’s government allowed contract cleaning in schools. The policy that existed under the member’s government, to the best of my information, is still available to schools today. I want to explain some history to the house, because it is very, very interesting. There was a time in Western Australia — Mr M. McGowan : It was wound back. Mr T.R. BUSWELL : I know that. There can still be contract cleaners. Mr M. McGowan : It was there when we arrived in office, and it was wound back, so what you said is actually misleading. Mr T.R. BUSWELL : There was a time in Western Australia when the schools were cleaned by contract cleaners. Under the former government, the original Minister for Education, the member for Willagee, thought that was a good set of arrangements. He was under enormous pressure from the miscellaneous workers’ union. It threatened to run him out of his seat. It threatened to do all sorts of things because he refused to yield to the union’s demands that those contract cleaners be replaced by a day labour force in schools. What does “day labour force” mean? It means that a person is a member of the miscellaneous workers’ union. It was a policy designed to force about 2 600 Western Australian workers into membership of the miscellaneous workers’ union. They would then pay their weekly membership fee, which flowed to the miscellaneous workers’ union, and some of which flowed back to the Australian Labor Party as donations for election campaigns. Anyway, here is the point. That required extra funding. It required more than $5 million of extra funding in two budget years. I am sure the former Treasurer will recall that. It required $2.8 million in 2005-06 and $3.3 million in 2006-07. My advice is that the cost of that policy — Mr E.S. Ripper interjected. The SPEAKER : Leader of the Opposition! Mr T.R. BUSWELL : I will tell members opposite something. When people turn up at a school with their kids, do members opposite seriously think that that is the first thing in their minds as they pull into the parking bay in the morning? They want a decent school, they want well-paid teachers and they want good educational infrastructure. Do they care if the people cleaning the school belong to the miscellaneous workers’ union? No, they do not. They pay taxes in this state and they want value for money. Notwithstanding all that, no policy decision of this government has been made to change tack regarding the widespread reintroduction of contract cleaning in schools and in the health system. However, I must say also that we have an obligation to deliver quality educational outcomes, and we have an obligation to deliver value for money for Western Australian taxpayers. Do members know what? Do they know what I keep telling the agency when we talk about wage negotiations with the miscellaneous workers’ union? The people down there in Commerce are nervous. They say so. I tell them not to worry, because when we look at the miscellaneous workers’ union office in Thomas Street, we do not see any little strings coming out of Dave Kelly’s office pulling our hands and making our mouths move. None of us has to respond politically—not like the member for Kwinana and not like the member for Nollamara. None of us—no-one on this side—owes our political future to Dave Kelly, and nor does my friend the member for Bassendean. That is why he nearly lost his seat. The SPEAKER : Thank you, members. I presume that the member for Cockburn has a supplementary question to ask.
(3) Can the minister confirm that his office ordered the Department of Commerce’s labour relations division to provide a report on the industrial impacts of privatising school and hospital cleaning? (4) Can the minister confirm that his office ordered the Department of Treasury and Finance to provide him with a report on the financial implications of privatising school and hospital cleaning? (5) Will the minister rule out privatised cleaning in government schools and hospitals? Mr T.R. BUSWELL replied: I will give the short answers to the five questions, as best I recall them, and then I will make some other comments. The short answers are as follows — (1) Yes. (2) Yes. Why would independent contractors not come to the government and ask it to use independent contractors? I would have thought it was quite odd if they had come to us, after a meeting with me, and said, “We want a meeting with the Minister for Commerce and Treasurer, and we don’t want to talk about our business.” Anyway, funnier things have happened. (3) No. I think that question was whether I have asked the Department of Commerce for a review of the industrial implications. I am pretty sure that I could work out what the industrial implications would be. That is not saying I am worried about that, but I am pretty sure I could work out what they would be from the miscellaneous workers’ union. (4) Did I ask Treasury to specifically look at contract cleaning? I will tell the house what we have done. We have established a process called value-for-money audits. In the first instance, the value-for-money audits will be looking at the Department of Health, the Department of Education and Training, the Department of Commerce and the Department of Environment and Conservation. I expect that the auditors will go through and, on a line-by-line basis, review government expenditure and provide us with advice on where they see there being better value for money. I do not resile from the fact that we have an obligation to the taxpayers of Western Australia to deliver the best value-for-money outcomes that we can. (5) Part (5) of the member’s question was whether we will allow contract cleaning. The member’s government allowed contract cleaning in schools. The policy that existed under the member’s government, to the best of my information, is still available to schools today. I want to explain some history to the house, because it is very, very interesting. There was a time in Western Australia — Mr M. McGowan : It was wound back. Mr T.R. BUSWELL : I know that. There can still be contract cleaners. Mr M. McGowan : It was there when we arrived in office, and it was wound back, so what you said is actually misleading. Mr T.R. BUSWELL : There was a time in Western Australia when the schools were cleaned by contract cleaners. Under the former government, the original Minister for Education, the member for Willagee, thought that was a good set of arrangements. He was under enormous pressure from the miscellaneous workers’ union. It threatened to run him out of his seat. It threatened to do all sorts of things because he refused to yield to the union’s demands that those contract cleaners be replaced by a day labour force in schools. What does “day labour force” mean? It means that a person is a member of the miscellaneous workers’ union. It was a policy designed to force about 2 600 Western Australian workers into membership of the miscellaneous workers’ union. They would then pay their weekly membership fee, which flowed to the miscellaneous workers’ union, and some of which flowed back to the Australian Labor Party as donations for election campaigns. Anyway, here is the point. That required extra funding. It required more than $5 million of extra funding in two budget years. I am sure the former Treasurer will recall that. It required $2.8 million in 2005-06 and $3.3 million in 2006-07. My advice is that the cost of that policy — Mr E.S. Ripper interjected. The SPEAKER : Leader of the Opposition! Mr T.R. BUSWELL : I will tell members opposite something. When people turn up at a school with their kids, do members opposite seriously think that that is the first thing in their minds as they pull into the parking bay in the morning? They want a decent school, they want well-paid teachers and they want good educational infrastructure. Do they care if the people cleaning the school belong to the miscellaneous workers’ union? No, they do not. They pay taxes in this state and they want value for money. Notwithstanding all that, no policy decision of this government has been made to change tack regarding the widespread reintroduction of contract cleaning in schools and in the health system. However, I must say also that we have an obligation to deliver quality educational outcomes, and we have an obligation to deliver value for money for Western Australian taxpayers. Do members know what? Do they know what I keep telling the agency when we talk about wage negotiations with the miscellaneous workers’ union? The people down there in Commerce are nervous. They say so. I tell them not to worry, because when we look at the miscellaneous workers’ union office in Thomas Street, we do not see any little strings coming out of Dave Kelly’s office pulling our hands and making our mouths move. None of us has to respond politically—not like the member for Kwinana and not like the member for Nollamara. None of us—no-one on this side—owes our political future to Dave Kelly, and nor does my friend the member for Bassendean. That is why he nearly lost his seat. The SPEAKER : Thank you, members. I presume that the member for Cockburn has a supplementary question to ask.
(4) Can the minister confirm that his office ordered the Department of Treasury and Finance to provide him with a report on the financial implications of privatising school and hospital cleaning? (5) Will the minister rule out privatised cleaning in government schools and hospitals? Mr T.R. BUSWELL replied: I will give the short answers to the five questions, as best I recall them, and then I will make some other comments. The short answers are as follows — (1) Yes. (2) Yes. Why would independent contractors not come to the government and ask it to use independent contractors? I would have thought it was quite odd if they had come to us, after a meeting with me, and said, “We want a meeting with the Minister for Commerce and Treasurer, and we don’t want to talk about our business.” Anyway, funnier things have happened. (3) No. I think that question was whether I have asked the Department of Commerce for a review of the industrial implications. I am pretty sure that I could work out what the industrial implications would be. That is not saying I am worried about that, but I am pretty sure I could work out what they would be from the miscellaneous workers’ union. (4) Did I ask Treasury to specifically look at contract cleaning? I will tell the house what we have done. We have established a process called value-for-money audits. In the first instance, the value-for-money audits will be looking at the Department of Health, the Department of Education and Training, the Department of Commerce and the Department of Environment and Conservation. I expect that the auditors will go through and, on a line-by-line basis, review government expenditure and provide us with advice on where they see there being better value for money. I do not resile from the fact that we have an obligation to the taxpayers of Western Australia to deliver the best value-for-money outcomes that we can. (5) Part (5) of the member’s question was whether we will allow contract cleaning. The member’s government allowed contract cleaning in schools. The policy that existed under the member’s government, to the best of my information, is still available to schools today. I want to explain some history to the house, because it is very, very interesting. There was a time in Western Australia — Mr M. McGowan : It was wound back. Mr T.R. BUSWELL : I know that. There can still be contract cleaners. Mr M. McGowan : It was there when we arrived in office, and it was wound back, so what you said is actually misleading. Mr T.R. BUSWELL : There was a time in Western Australia when the schools were cleaned by contract cleaners. Under the former government, the original Minister for Education, the member for Willagee, thought that was a good set of arrangements. He was under enormous pressure from the miscellaneous workers’ union. It threatened to run him out of his seat. It threatened to do all sorts of things because he refused to yield to the union’s demands that those contract cleaners be replaced by a day labour force in schools. What does “day labour force” mean? It means that a person is a member of the miscellaneous workers’ union. It was a policy designed to force about 2 600 Western Australian workers into membership of the miscellaneous workers’ union. They would then pay their weekly membership fee, which flowed to the miscellaneous workers’ union, and some of which flowed back to the Australian Labor Party as donations for election campaigns. Anyway, here is the point. That required extra funding. It required more than $5 million of extra funding in two budget years. I am sure the former Treasurer will recall that. It required $2.8 million in 2005-06 and $3.3 million in 2006-07. My advice is that the cost of that policy — Mr E.S. Ripper interjected. The SPEAKER : Leader of the Opposition! Mr T.R. BUSWELL : I will tell members opposite something. When people turn up at a school with their kids, do members opposite seriously think that that is the first thing in their minds as they pull into the parking bay in the morning? They want a decent school, they want well-paid teachers and they want good educational infrastructure. Do they care if the people cleaning the school belong to the miscellaneous workers’ union? No, they do not. They pay taxes in this state and they want value for money. Notwithstanding all that, no policy decision of this government has been made to change tack regarding the widespread reintroduction of contract cleaning in schools and in the health system. However, I must say also that we have an obligation to deliver quality educational outcomes, and we have an obligation to deliver value for money for Western Australian taxpayers. Do members know what? Do they know what I keep telling the agency when we talk about wage negotiations with the miscellaneous workers’ union? The people down there in Commerce are nervous. They say so. I tell them not to worry, because when we look at the miscellaneous workers’ union office in Thomas Street, we do not see any little strings coming out of Dave Kelly’s office pulling our hands and making our mouths move. None of us has to respond politically—not like the member for Kwinana and not like the member for Nollamara. None of us—no-one on this side—owes our political future to Dave Kelly, and nor does my friend the member for Bassendean. That is why he nearly lost his seat. The SPEAKER : Thank you, members. I presume that the member for Cockburn has a supplementary question to ask.
(5) Will the minister rule out privatised cleaning in government schools and hospitals? Mr T.R. BUSWELL replied: I will give the short answers to the five questions, as best I recall them, and then I will make some other comments. The short answers are as follows — (1) Yes. (2) Yes. Why would independent contractors not come to the government and ask it to use independent contractors? I would have thought it was quite odd if they had come to us, after a meeting with me, and said, “We want a meeting with the Minister for Commerce and Treasurer, and we don’t want to talk about our business.” Anyway, funnier things have happened. (3) No. I think that question was whether I have asked the Department of Commerce for a review of the industrial implications. I am pretty sure that I could work out what the industrial implications would be. That is not saying I am worried about that, but I am pretty sure I could work out what they would be from the miscellaneous workers’ union. (4) Did I ask Treasury to specifically look at contract cleaning? I will tell the house what we have done. We have established a process called value-for-money audits. In the first instance, the value-for-money audits will be looking at the Department of Health, the Department of Education and Training, the Department of Commerce and the Department of Environment and Conservation. I expect that the auditors will go through and, on a line-by-line basis, review government expenditure and provide us with advice on where they see there being better value for money. I do not resile from the fact that we have an obligation to the taxpayers of Western Australia to deliver the best value-for-money outcomes that we can. (5) Part (5) of the member’s question was whether we will allow contract cleaning. The member’s government allowed contract cleaning in schools. The policy that existed under the member’s government, to the best of my information, is still available to schools today. I want to explain some history to the house, because it is very, very interesting. There was a time in Western Australia — Mr M. McGowan : It was wound back. Mr T.R. BUSWELL : I know that. There can still be contract cleaners. Mr M. McGowan : It was there when we arrived in office, and it was wound back, so what you said is actually misleading. Mr T.R. BUSWELL : There was a time in Western Australia when the schools were cleaned by contract cleaners. Under the former government, the original Minister for Education, the member for Willagee, thought that was a good set of arrangements. He was under enormous pressure from the miscellaneous workers’ union. It threatened to run him out of his seat. It threatened to do all sorts of things because he refused to yield to the union’s demands that those contract cleaners be replaced by a day labour force in schools. What does “day labour force” mean? It means that a person is a member of the miscellaneous workers’ union. It was a policy designed to force about 2 600 Western Australian workers into membership of the miscellaneous workers’ union. They would then pay their weekly membership fee, which flowed to the miscellaneous workers’ union, and some of which flowed back to the Australian Labor Party as donations for election campaigns. Anyway, here is the point. That required extra funding. It required more than $5 million of extra funding in two budget years. I am sure the former Treasurer will recall that. It required $2.8 million in 2005-06 and $3.3 million in 2006-07. My advice is that the cost of that policy — Mr E.S. Ripper interjected. The SPEAKER : Leader of the Opposition! Mr T.R. BUSWELL : I will tell members opposite something. When people turn up at a school with their kids, do members opposite seriously think that that is the first thing in their minds as they pull into the parking bay in the morning? They want a decent school, they want well-paid teachers and they want good educational infrastructure. Do they care if the people cleaning the school belong to the miscellaneous workers’ union? No, they do not. They pay taxes in this state and they want value for money. Notwithstanding all that, no policy decision of this government has been made to change tack regarding the widespread reintroduction of contract cleaning in schools and in the health system. However, I must say also that we have an obligation to deliver quality educational outcomes, and we have an obligation to deliver value for money for Western Australian taxpayers. Do members know what? Do they know what I keep telling the agency when we talk about wage negotiations with the miscellaneous workers’ union? The people down there in Commerce are nervous. They say so. I tell them not to worry, because when we look at the miscellaneous workers’ union office in Thomas Street, we do not see any little strings coming out of Dave Kelly’s office pulling our hands and making our mouths move. None of us has to respond politically—not like the member for Kwinana and not like the member for Nollamara. None of us—no-one on this side—owes our political future to Dave Kelly, and nor does my friend the member for Bassendean. That is why he nearly lost his seat. The SPEAKER : Thank you, members. I presume that the member for Cockburn has a supplementary question to ask.
Mr T.R. BUSWELL replied: I will give the short answers to the five questions, as best I recall them, and then I will make some other comments. The short answers are as follows — (1) Yes. (2) Yes. Why would independent contractors not come to the government and ask it to use independent contractors? I would have thought it was quite odd if they had come to us, after a meeting with me, and said, “We want a meeting with the Minister for Commerce and Treasurer, and we don’t want to talk about our business.” Anyway, funnier things have happened. (3) No. I think that question was whether I have asked the Department of Commerce for a review of the industrial implications. I am pretty sure that I could work out what the industrial implications would be. That is not saying I am worried about that, but I am pretty sure I could work out what they would be from the miscellaneous workers’ union. (4) Did I ask Treasury to specifically look at contract cleaning? I will tell the house what we have done. We have established a process called value-for-money audits. In the first instance, the value-for-money audits will be looking at the Department of Health, the Department of Education and Training, the Department of Commerce and the Department of Environment and Conservation. I expect that the auditors will go through and, on a line-by-line basis, review government expenditure and provide us with advice on where they see there being better value for money. I do not resile from the fact that we have an obligation to the taxpayers of Western Australia to deliver the best value-for-money outcomes that we can. (5) Part (5) of the member’s question was whether we will allow contract cleaning. The member’s government allowed contract cleaning in schools. The policy that existed under the member’s government, to the best of my information, is still available to schools today. I want to explain some history to the house, because it is very, very interesting. There was a time in Western Australia — Mr M. McGowan : It was wound back. Mr T.R. BUSWELL : I know that. There can still be contract cleaners. Mr M. McGowan : It was there when we arrived in office, and it was wound back, so what you said is actually misleading. Mr T.R. BUSWELL : There was a time in Western Australia when the schools were cleaned by contract cleaners. Under the former government, the original Minister for Education, the member for Willagee, thought that was a good set of arrangements. He was under enormous pressure from the miscellaneous workers’ union. It threatened to run him out of his seat. It threatened to do all sorts of things because he refused to yield to the union’s demands that those contract cleaners be replaced by a day labour force in schools. What does “day labour force” mean? It means that a person is a member of the miscellaneous workers’ union. It was a policy designed to force about 2 600 Western Australian workers into membership of the miscellaneous workers’ union. They would then pay their weekly membership fee, which flowed to the miscellaneous workers’ union, and some of which flowed back to the Australian Labor Party as donations for election campaigns. Anyway, here is the point. That required extra funding. It required more than $5 million of extra funding in two budget years. I am sure the former Treasurer will recall that. It required $2.8 million in 2005-06 and $3.3 million in 2006-07. My advice is that the cost of that policy — Mr E.S. Ripper interjected. The SPEAKER : Leader of the Opposition! Mr T.R. BUSWELL : I will tell members opposite something. When people turn up at a school with their kids, do members opposite seriously think that that is the first thing in their minds as they pull into the parking bay in the morning? They want a decent school, they want well-paid teachers and they want good educational infrastructure. Do they care if the people cleaning the school belong to the miscellaneous workers’ union? No, they do not. They pay taxes in this state and they want value for money. Notwithstanding all that, no policy decision of this government has been made to change tack regarding the widespread reintroduction of contract cleaning in schools and in the health system. However, I must say also that we have an obligation to deliver quality educational outcomes, and we have an obligation to deliver value for money for Western Australian taxpayers. Do members know what? Do they know what I keep telling the agency when we talk about wage negotiations with the miscellaneous workers’ union? The people down there in Commerce are nervous. They say so. I tell them not to worry, because when we look at the miscellaneous workers’ union office in Thomas Street, we do not see any little strings coming out of Dave Kelly’s office pulling our hands and making our mouths move. None of us has to respond politically—not like the member for Kwinana and not like the member for Nollamara. None of us—no-one on this side—owes our political future to Dave Kelly, and nor does my friend the member for Bassendean. That is why he nearly lost his seat. The SPEAKER : Thank you, members. I presume that the member for Cockburn has a supplementary question to ask.
I will give the short answers to the five questions, as best I recall them, and then I will make some other comments. The short answers are as follows — (1) Yes. (2) Yes. Why would independent contractors not come to the government and ask it to use independent contractors? I would have thought it was quite odd if they had come to us, after a meeting with me, and said, “We want a meeting with the Minister for Commerce and Treasurer, and we don’t want to talk about our business.” Anyway, funnier things have happened. (3) No. I think that question was whether I have asked the Department of Commerce for a review of the industrial implications. I am pretty sure that I could work out what the industrial implications would be. That is not saying I am worried about that, but I am pretty sure I could work out what they would be from the miscellaneous workers’ union. (4) Did I ask Treasury to specifically look at contract cleaning? I will tell the house what we have done. We have established a process called value-for-money audits. In the first instance, the value-for-money audits will be looking at the Department of Health, the Department of Education and Training, the Department of Commerce and the Department of Environment and Conservation. I expect that the auditors will go through and, on a line-by-line basis, review government expenditure and provide us with advice on where they see there being better value for money. I do not resile from the fact that we have an obligation to the taxpayers of Western Australia to deliver the best value-for-money outcomes that we can. (5) Part (5) of the member’s question was whether we will allow contract cleaning. The member’s government allowed contract cleaning in schools. The policy that existed under the member’s government, to the best of my information, is still available to schools today. I want to explain some history to the house, because it is very, very interesting. There was a time in Western Australia — Mr M. McGowan : It was wound back. Mr T.R. BUSWELL : I know that. There can still be contract cleaners. Mr M. McGowan : It was there when we arrived in office, and it was wound back, so what you said is actually misleading. Mr T.R. BUSWELL : There was a time in Western Australia when the schools were cleaned by contract cleaners. Under the former government, the original Minister for Education, the member for Willagee, thought that was a good set of arrangements. He was under enormous pressure from the miscellaneous workers’ union. It threatened to run him out of his seat. It threatened to do all sorts of things because he refused to yield to the union’s demands that those contract cleaners be replaced by a day labour force in schools. What does “day labour force” mean? It means that a person is a member of the miscellaneous workers’ union. It was a policy designed to force about 2 600 Western Australian workers into membership of the miscellaneous workers’ union. They would then pay their weekly membership fee, which flowed to the miscellaneous workers’ union, and some of which flowed back to the Australian Labor Party as donations for election campaigns. Anyway, here is the point. That required extra funding. It required more than $5 million of extra funding in two budget years. I am sure the former Treasurer will recall that. It required $2.8 million in 2005-06 and $3.3 million in 2006-07. My advice is that the cost of that policy — Mr E.S. Ripper interjected. The SPEAKER : Leader of the Opposition! Mr T.R. BUSWELL : I will tell members opposite something. When people turn up at a school with their kids, do members opposite seriously think that that is the first thing in their minds as they pull into the parking bay in the morning? They want a decent school, they want well-paid teachers and they want good educational infrastructure. Do they care if the people cleaning the school belong to the miscellaneous workers’ union? No, they do not. They pay taxes in this state and they want value for money. Notwithstanding all that, no policy decision of this government has been made to change tack regarding the widespread reintroduction of contract cleaning in schools and in the health system. However, I must say also that we have an obligation to deliver quality educational outcomes, and we have an obligation to deliver value for money for Western Australian taxpayers. Do members know what? Do they know what I keep telling the agency when we talk about wage negotiations with the miscellaneous workers’ union? The people down there in Commerce are nervous. They say so. I tell them not to worry, because when we look at the miscellaneous workers’ union office in Thomas Street, we do not see any little strings coming out of Dave Kelly’s office pulling our hands and making our mouths move. None of us has to respond politically—not like the member for Kwinana and not like the member for Nollamara. None of us—no-one on this side—owes our political future to Dave Kelly, and nor does my friend the member for Bassendean. That is why he nearly lost his seat. The SPEAKER : Thank you, members. I presume that the member for Cockburn has a supplementary question to ask.
(1) Yes. (2) Yes. Why would independent contractors not come to the government and ask it to use independent contractors? I would have thought it was quite odd if they had come to us, after a meeting with me, and said, “We want a meeting with the Minister for Commerce and Treasurer, and we don’t want to talk about our business.” Anyway, funnier things have happened. (3) No. I think that question was whether I have asked the Department of Commerce for a review of the industrial implications. I am pretty sure that I could work out what the industrial implications would be. That is not saying I am worried about that, but I am pretty sure I could work out what they would be from the miscellaneous workers’ union. (4) Did I ask Treasury to specifically look at contract cleaning? I will tell the house what we have done. We have established a process called value-for-money audits. In the first instance, the value-for-money audits will be looking at the Department of Health, the Department of Education and Training, the Department of Commerce and the Department of Environment and Conservation. I expect that the auditors will go through and, on a line-by-line basis, review government expenditure and provide us with advice on where they see there being better value for money. I do not resile from the fact that we have an obligation to the taxpayers of Western Australia to deliver the best value-for-money outcomes that we can. (5) Part (5) of the member’s question was whether we will allow contract cleaning. The member’s government allowed contract cleaning in schools. The policy that existed under the member’s government, to the best of my information, is still available to schools today. I want to explain some history to the house, because it is very, very interesting. There was a time in Western Australia — Mr M. McGowan : It was wound back. Mr T.R. BUSWELL : I know that. There can still be contract cleaners. Mr M. McGowan : It was there when we arrived in office, and it was wound back, so what you said is actually misleading. Mr T.R. BUSWELL : There was a time in Western Australia when the schools were cleaned by contract cleaners. Under the former government, the original Minister for Education, the member for Willagee, thought that was a good set of arrangements. He was under enormous pressure from the miscellaneous workers’ union. It threatened to run him out of his seat. It threatened to do all sorts of things because he refused to yield to the union’s demands that those contract cleaners be replaced by a day labour force in schools. What does “day labour force” mean? It means that a person is a member of the miscellaneous workers’ union. It was a policy designed to force about 2 600 Western Australian workers into membership of the miscellaneous workers’ union. They would then pay their weekly membership fee, which flowed to the miscellaneous workers’ union, and some of which flowed back to the Australian Labor Party as donations for election campaigns. Anyway, here is the point. That required extra funding. It required more than $5 million of extra funding in two budget years. I am sure the former Treasurer will recall that. It required $2.8 million in 2005-06 and $3.3 million in 2006-07. My advice is that the cost of that policy — Mr E.S. Ripper interjected. The SPEAKER : Leader of the Opposition! Mr T.R. BUSWELL : I will tell members opposite something. When people turn up at a school with their kids, do members opposite seriously think that that is the first thing in their minds as they pull into the parking bay in the morning? They want a decent school, they want well-paid teachers and they want good educational infrastructure. Do they care if the people cleaning the school belong to the miscellaneous workers’ union? No, they do not. They pay taxes in this state and they want value for money. Notwithstanding all that, no policy decision of this government has been made to change tack regarding the widespread reintroduction of contract cleaning in schools and in the health system. However, I must say also that we have an obligation to deliver quality educational outcomes, and we have an obligation to deliver value for money for Western Australian taxpayers. Do members know what? Do they know what I keep telling the agency when we talk about wage negotiations with the miscellaneous workers’ union? The people down there in Commerce are nervous. They say so. I tell them not to worry, because when we look at the miscellaneous workers’ union office in Thomas Street, we do not see any little strings coming out of Dave Kelly’s office pulling our hands and making our mouths move. None of us has to respond politically—not like the member for Kwinana and not like the member for Nollamara. None of us—no-one on this side—owes our political future to Dave Kelly, and nor does my friend the member for Bassendean. That is why he nearly lost his seat. The SPEAKER : Thank you, members. I presume that the member for Cockburn has a supplementary question to ask.
(2) Yes. Why would independent contractors not come to the government and ask it to use independent contractors? I would have thought it was quite odd if they had come to us, after a meeting with me, and said, “We want a meeting with the Minister for Commerce and Treasurer, and we don’t want to talk about our business.” Anyway, funnier things have happened. (3) No. I think that question was whether I have asked the Department of Commerce for a review of the industrial implications. I am pretty sure that I could work out what the industrial implications would be. That is not saying I am worried about that, but I am pretty sure I could work out what they would be from the miscellaneous workers’ union. (4) Did I ask Treasury to specifically look at contract cleaning? I will tell the house what we have done. We have established a process called value-for-money audits. In the first instance, the value-for-money audits will be looking at the Department of Health, the Department of Education and Training, the Department of Commerce and the Department of Environment and Conservation. I expect that the auditors will go through and, on a line-by-line basis, review government expenditure and provide us with advice on where they see there being better value for money. I do not resile from the fact that we have an obligation to the taxpayers of Western Australia to deliver the best value-for-money outcomes that we can. (5) Part (5) of the member’s question was whether we will allow contract cleaning. The member’s government allowed contract cleaning in schools. The policy that existed under the member’s government, to the best of my information, is still available to schools today. I want to explain some history to the house, because it is very, very interesting. There was a time in Western Australia — Mr M. McGowan : It was wound back. Mr T.R. BUSWELL : I know that. There can still be contract cleaners. Mr M. McGowan : It was there when we arrived in office, and it was wound back, so what you said is actually misleading. Mr T.R. BUSWELL : There was a time in Western Australia when the schools were cleaned by contract cleaners. Under the former government, the original Minister for Education, the member for Willagee, thought that was a good set of arrangements. He was under enormous pressure from the miscellaneous workers’ union. It threatened to run him out of his seat. It threatened to do all sorts of things because he refused to yield to the union’s demands that those contract cleaners be replaced by a day labour force in schools. What does “day labour force” mean? It means that a person is a member of the miscellaneous workers’ union. It was a policy designed to force about 2 600 Western Australian workers into membership of the miscellaneous workers’ union. They would then pay their weekly membership fee, which flowed to the miscellaneous workers’ union, and some of which flowed back to the Australian Labor Party as donations for election campaigns. Anyway, here is the point. That required extra funding. It required more than $5 million of extra funding in two budget years. I am sure the former Treasurer will recall that. It required $2.8 million in 2005-06 and $3.3 million in 2006-07. My advice is that the cost of that policy — Mr E.S. Ripper interjected. The SPEAKER : Leader of the Opposition! Mr T.R. BUSWELL : I will tell members opposite something. When people turn up at a school with their kids, do members opposite seriously think that that is the first thing in their minds as they pull into the parking bay in the morning? They want a decent school, they want well-paid teachers and they want good educational infrastructure. Do they care if the people cleaning the school belong to the miscellaneous workers’ union? No, they do not. They pay taxes in this state and they want value for money. Notwithstanding all that, no policy decision of this government has been made to change tack regarding the widespread reintroduction of contract cleaning in schools and in the health system. However, I must say also that we have an obligation to deliver quality educational outcomes, and we have an obligation to deliver value for money for Western Australian taxpayers. Do members know what? Do they know what I keep telling the agency when we talk about wage negotiations with the miscellaneous workers’ union? The people down there in Commerce are nervous. They say so. I tell them not to worry, because when we look at the miscellaneous workers’ union office in Thomas Street, we do not see any little strings coming out of Dave Kelly’s office pulling our hands and making our mouths move. None of us has to respond politically—not like the member for Kwinana and not like the member for Nollamara. None of us—no-one on this side—owes our political future to Dave Kelly, and nor does my friend the member for Bassendean. That is why he nearly lost his seat. The SPEAKER : Thank you, members. I presume that the member for Cockburn has a supplementary question to ask.
(3) No. I think that question was whether I have asked the Department of Commerce for a review of the industrial implications. I am pretty sure that I could work out what the industrial implications would be. That is not saying I am worried about that, but I am pretty sure I could work out what they would be from the miscellaneous workers’ union. (4) Did I ask Treasury to specifically look at contract cleaning? I will tell the house what we have done. We have established a process called value-for-money audits. In the first instance, the value-for-money audits will be looking at the Department of Health, the Department of Education and Training, the Department of Commerce and the Department of Environment and Conservation. I expect that the auditors will go through and, on a line-by-line basis, review government expenditure and provide us with advice on where they see there being better value for money. I do not resile from the fact that we have an obligation to the taxpayers of Western Australia to deliver the best value-for-money outcomes that we can. (5) Part (5) of the member’s question was whether we will allow contract cleaning. The member’s government allowed contract cleaning in schools. The policy that existed under the member’s government, to the best of my information, is still available to schools today. I want to explain some history to the house, because it is very, very interesting. There was a time in Western Australia — Mr M. McGowan : It was wound back. Mr T.R. BUSWELL : I know that. There can still be contract cleaners. Mr M. McGowan : It was there when we arrived in office, and it was wound back, so what you said is actually misleading. Mr T.R. BUSWELL : There was a time in Western Australia when the schools were cleaned by contract cleaners. Under the former government, the original Minister for Education, the member for Willagee, thought that was a good set of arrangements. He was under enormous pressure from the miscellaneous workers’ union. It threatened to run him out of his seat. It threatened to do all sorts of things because he refused to yield to the union’s demands that those contract cleaners be replaced by a day labour force in schools. What does “day labour force” mean? It means that a person is a member of the miscellaneous workers’ union. It was a policy designed to force about 2 600 Western Australian workers into membership of the miscellaneous workers’ union. They would then pay their weekly membership fee, which flowed to the miscellaneous workers’ union, and some of which flowed back to the Australian Labor Party as donations for election campaigns. Anyway, here is the point. That required extra funding. It required more than $5 million of extra funding in two budget years. I am sure the former Treasurer will recall that. It required $2.8 million in 2005-06 and $3.3 million in 2006-07. My advice is that the cost of that policy — Mr E.S. Ripper interjected. The SPEAKER : Leader of the Opposition! Mr T.R. BUSWELL : I will tell members opposite something. When people turn up at a school with their kids, do members opposite seriously think that that is the first thing in their minds as they pull into the parking bay in the morning? They want a decent school, they want well-paid teachers and they want good educational infrastructure. Do they care if the people cleaning the school belong to the miscellaneous workers’ union? No, they do not. They pay taxes in this state and they want value for money. Notwithstanding all that, no policy decision of this government has been made to change tack regarding the widespread reintroduction of contract cleaning in schools and in the health system. However, I must say also that we have an obligation to deliver quality educational outcomes, and we have an obligation to deliver value for money for Western Australian taxpayers. Do members know what? Do they know what I keep telling the agency when we talk about wage negotiations with the miscellaneous workers’ union? The people down there in Commerce are nervous. They say so. I tell them not to worry, because when we look at the miscellaneous workers’ union office in Thomas Street, we do not see any little strings coming out of Dave Kelly’s office pulling our hands and making our mouths move. None of us has to respond politically—not like the member for Kwinana and not like the member for Nollamara. None of us—no-one on this side—owes our political future to Dave Kelly, and nor does my friend the member for Bassendean. That is why he nearly lost his seat. The SPEAKER : Thank you, members. I presume that the member for Cockburn has a supplementary question to ask.
(4) Did I ask Treasury to specifically look at contract cleaning? I will tell the house what we have done. We have established a process called value-for-money audits. In the first instance, the value-for-money audits will be looking at the Department of Health, the Department of Education and Training, the Department of Commerce and the Department of Environment and Conservation. I expect that the auditors will go through and, on a line-by-line basis, review government expenditure and provide us with advice on where they see there being better value for money. I do not resile from the fact that we have an obligation to the taxpayers of Western Australia to deliver the best value-for-money outcomes that we can. (5) Part (5) of the member’s question was whether we will allow contract cleaning. The member’s government allowed contract cleaning in schools. The policy that existed under the member’s government, to the best of my information, is still available to schools today. I want to explain some history to the house, because it is very, very interesting. There was a time in Western Australia — Mr M. McGowan : It was wound back. Mr T.R. BUSWELL : I know that. There can still be contract cleaners. Mr M. McGowan : It was there when we arrived in office, and it was wound back, so what you said is actually misleading. Mr T.R. BUSWELL : There was a time in Western Australia when the schools were cleaned by contract cleaners. Under the former government, the original Minister for Education, the member for Willagee, thought that was a good set of arrangements. He was under enormous pressure from the miscellaneous workers’ union. It threatened to run him out of his seat. It threatened to do all sorts of things because he refused to yield to the union’s demands that those contract cleaners be replaced by a day labour force in schools. What does “day labour force” mean? It means that a person is a member of the miscellaneous workers’ union. It was a policy designed to force about 2 600 Western Australian workers into membership of the miscellaneous workers’ union. They would then pay their weekly membership fee, which flowed to the miscellaneous workers’ union, and some of which flowed back to the Australian Labor Party as donations for election campaigns. Anyway, here is the point. That required extra funding. It required more than $5 million of extra funding in two budget years. I am sure the former Treasurer will recall that. It required $2.8 million in 2005-06 and $3.3 million in 2006-07. My advice is that the cost of that policy — Mr E.S. Ripper interjected. The SPEAKER : Leader of the Opposition! Mr T.R. BUSWELL : I will tell members opposite something. When people turn up at a school with their kids, do members opposite seriously think that that is the first thing in their minds as they pull into the parking bay in the morning? They want a decent school, they want well-paid teachers and they want good educational infrastructure. Do they care if the people cleaning the school belong to the miscellaneous workers’ union? No, they do not. They pay taxes in this state and they want value for money. Notwithstanding all that, no policy decision of this government has been made to change tack regarding the widespread reintroduction of contract cleaning in schools and in the health system. However, I must say also that we have an obligation to deliver quality educational outcomes, and we have an obligation to deliver value for money for Western Australian taxpayers. Do members know what? Do they know what I keep telling the agency when we talk about wage negotiations with the miscellaneous workers’ union? The people down there in Commerce are nervous. They say so. I tell them not to worry, because when we look at the miscellaneous workers’ union office in Thomas Street, we do not see any little strings coming out of Dave Kelly’s office pulling our hands and making our mouths move. None of us has to respond politically—not like the member for Kwinana and not like the member for Nollamara. None of us—no-one on this side—owes our political future to Dave Kelly, and nor does my friend the member for Bassendean. That is why he nearly lost his seat. The SPEAKER : Thank you, members. I presume that the member for Cockburn has a supplementary question to ask.
(5) Part (5) of the member’s question was whether we will allow contract cleaning. The member’s government allowed contract cleaning in schools. The policy that existed under the member’s government, to the best of my information, is still available to schools today. I want to explain some history to the house, because it is very, very interesting. There was a time in Western Australia — Mr M. McGowan : It was wound back. Mr T.R. BUSWELL : I know that. There can still be contract cleaners. Mr M. McGowan : It was there when we arrived in office, and it was wound back, so what you said is actually misleading. Mr T.R. BUSWELL : There was a time in Western Australia when the schools were cleaned by contract cleaners. Under the former government, the original Minister for Education, the member for Willagee, thought that was a good set of arrangements. He was under enormous pressure from the miscellaneous workers’ union. It threatened to run him out of his seat. It threatened to do all sorts of things because he refused to yield to the union’s demands that those contract cleaners be replaced by a day labour force in schools. What does “day labour force” mean? It means that a person is a member of the miscellaneous workers’ union. It was a policy designed to force about 2 600 Western Australian workers into membership of the miscellaneous workers’ union. They would then pay their weekly membership fee, which flowed to the miscellaneous workers’ union, and some of which flowed back to the Australian Labor Party as donations for election campaigns. Anyway, here is the point. That required extra funding. It required more than $5 million of extra funding in two budget years. I am sure the former Treasurer will recall that. It required $2.8 million in 2005-06 and $3.3 million in 2006-07. My advice is that the cost of that policy — Mr E.S. Ripper interjected. The SPEAKER : Leader of the Opposition! Mr T.R. BUSWELL : I will tell members opposite something. When people turn up at a school with their kids, do members opposite seriously think that that is the first thing in their minds as they pull into the parking bay in the morning? They want a decent school, they want well-paid teachers and they want good educational infrastructure. Do they care if the people cleaning the school belong to the miscellaneous workers’ union? No, they do not. They pay taxes in this state and they want value for money. Notwithstanding all that, no policy decision of this government has been made to change tack regarding the widespread reintroduction of contract cleaning in schools and in the health system. However, I must say also that we have an obligation to deliver quality educational outcomes, and we have an obligation to deliver value for money for Western Australian taxpayers. Do members know what? Do they know what I keep telling the agency when we talk about wage negotiations with the miscellaneous workers’ union? The people down there in Commerce are nervous. They say so. I tell them not to worry, because when we look at the miscellaneous workers’ union office in Thomas Street, we do not see any little strings coming out of Dave Kelly’s office pulling our hands and making our mouths move. None of us has to respond politically—not like the member for Kwinana and not like the member for Nollamara. None of us—no-one on this side—owes our political future to Dave Kelly, and nor does my friend the member for Bassendean. That is why he nearly lost his seat. The SPEAKER : Thank you, members. I presume that the member for Cockburn has a supplementary question to ask.
Mr M. McGowan : It was wound back. Mr T.R. BUSWELL : I know that. There can still be contract cleaners. Mr M. McGowan : It was there when we arrived in office, and it was wound back, so what you said is actually misleading. Mr T.R. BUSWELL : There was a time in Western Australia when the schools were cleaned by contract cleaners. Under the former government, the original Minister for Education, the member for Willagee, thought that was a good set of arrangements. He was under enormous pressure from the miscellaneous workers’ union. It threatened to run him out of his seat. It threatened to do all sorts of things because he refused to yield to the union’s demands that those contract cleaners be replaced by a day labour force in schools. What does “day labour force” mean? It means that a person is a member of the miscellaneous workers’ union. It was a policy designed to force about 2 600 Western Australian workers into membership of the miscellaneous workers’ union. They would then pay their weekly membership fee, which flowed to the miscellaneous workers’ union, and some of which flowed back to the Australian Labor Party as donations for election campaigns. Anyway, here is the point. That required extra funding. It required more than $5 million of extra funding in two budget years. I am sure the former Treasurer will recall that. It required $2.8 million in 2005-06 and $3.3 million in 2006-07. My advice is that the cost of that policy — Mr E.S. Ripper interjected. The SPEAKER : Leader of the Opposition! Mr T.R. BUSWELL : I will tell members opposite something. When people turn up at a school with their kids, do members opposite seriously think that that is the first thing in their minds as they pull into the parking bay in the morning? They want a decent school, they want well-paid teachers and they want good educational infrastructure. Do they care if the people cleaning the school belong to the miscellaneous workers’ union? No, they do not. They pay taxes in this state and they want value for money. Notwithstanding all that, no policy decision of this government has been made to change tack regarding the widespread reintroduction of contract cleaning in schools and in the health system. However, I must say also that we have an obligation to deliver quality educational outcomes, and we have an obligation to deliver value for money for Western Australian taxpayers. Do members know what? Do they know what I keep telling the agency when we talk about wage negotiations with the miscellaneous workers’ union? The people down there in Commerce are nervous. They say so. I tell them not to worry, because when we look at the miscellaneous workers’ union office in Thomas Street, we do not see any little strings coming out of Dave Kelly’s office pulling our hands and making our mouths move. None of us has to respond politically—not like the member for Kwinana and not like the member for Nollamara. None of us—no-one on this side—owes our political future to Dave Kelly, and nor does my friend the member for Bassendean. That is why he nearly lost his seat. The SPEAKER : Thank you, members. I presume that the member for Cockburn has a supplementary question to ask.
Mr T.R. BUSWELL : I know that. There can still be contract cleaners. Mr M. McGowan : It was there when we arrived in office, and it was wound back, so what you said is actually misleading. Mr T.R. BUSWELL : There was a time in Western Australia when the schools were cleaned by contract cleaners. Under the former government, the original Minister for Education, the member for Willagee, thought that was a good set of arrangements. He was under enormous pressure from the miscellaneous workers’ union. It threatened to run him out of his seat. It threatened to do all sorts of things because he refused to yield to the union’s demands that those contract cleaners be replaced by a day labour force in schools. What does “day labour force” mean? It means that a person is a member of the miscellaneous workers’ union. It was a policy designed to force about 2 600 Western Australian workers into membership of the miscellaneous workers’ union. They would then pay their weekly membership fee, which flowed to the miscellaneous workers’ union, and some of which flowed back to the Australian Labor Party as donations for election campaigns. Anyway, here is the point. That required extra funding. It required more than $5 million of extra funding in two budget years. I am sure the former Treasurer will recall that. It required $2.8 million in 2005-06 and $3.3 million in 2006-07. My advice is that the cost of that policy — Mr E.S. Ripper interjected. The SPEAKER : Leader of the Opposition! Mr T.R. BUSWELL : I will tell members opposite something. When people turn up at a school with their kids, do members opposite seriously think that that is the first thing in their minds as they pull into the parking bay in the morning? They want a decent school, they want well-paid teachers and they want good educational infrastructure. Do they care if the people cleaning the school belong to the miscellaneous workers’ union? No, they do not. They pay taxes in this state and they want value for money. Notwithstanding all that, no policy decision of this government has been made to change tack regarding the widespread reintroduction of contract cleaning in schools and in the health system. However, I must say also that we have an obligation to deliver quality educational outcomes, and we have an obligation to deliver value for money for Western Australian taxpayers. Do members know what? Do they know what I keep telling the agency when we talk about wage negotiations with the miscellaneous workers’ union? The people down there in Commerce are nervous. They say so. I tell them not to worry, because when we look at the miscellaneous workers’ union office in Thomas Street, we do not see any little strings coming out of Dave Kelly’s office pulling our hands and making our mouths move. None of us has to respond politically—not like the member for Kwinana and not like the member for Nollamara. None of us—no-one on this side—owes our political future to Dave Kelly, and nor does my friend the member for Bassendean. That is why he nearly lost his seat. The SPEAKER : Thank you, members. I presume that the member for Cockburn has a supplementary question to ask.
Mr M. McGowan : It was there when we arrived in office, and it was wound back, so what you said is actually misleading. Mr T.R. BUSWELL : There was a time in Western Australia when the schools were cleaned by contract cleaners. Under the former government, the original Minister for Education, the member for Willagee, thought that was a good set of arrangements. He was under enormous pressure from the miscellaneous workers’ union. It threatened to run him out of his seat. It threatened to do all sorts of things because he refused to yield to the union’s demands that those contract cleaners be replaced by a day labour force in schools. What does “day labour force” mean? It means that a person is a member of the miscellaneous workers’ union. It was a policy designed to force about 2 600 Western Australian workers into membership of the miscellaneous workers’ union. They would then pay their weekly membership fee, which flowed to the miscellaneous workers’ union, and some of which flowed back to the Australian Labor Party as donations for election campaigns. Anyway, here is the point. That required extra funding. It required more than $5 million of extra funding in two budget years. I am sure the former Treasurer will recall that. It required $2.8 million in 2005-06 and $3.3 million in 2006-07. My advice is that the cost of that policy — Mr E.S. Ripper interjected. The SPEAKER : Leader of the Opposition! Mr T.R. BUSWELL : I will tell members opposite something. When people turn up at a school with their kids, do members opposite seriously think that that is the first thing in their minds as they pull into the parking bay in the morning? They want a decent school, they want well-paid teachers and they want good educational infrastructure. Do they care if the people cleaning the school belong to the miscellaneous workers’ union? No, they do not. They pay taxes in this state and they want value for money. Notwithstanding all that, no policy decision of this government has been made to change tack regarding the widespread reintroduction of contract cleaning in schools and in the health system. However, I must say also that we have an obligation to deliver quality educational outcomes, and we have an obligation to deliver value for money for Western Australian taxpayers. Do members know what? Do they know what I keep telling the agency when we talk about wage negotiations with the miscellaneous workers’ union? The people down there in Commerce are nervous. They say so. I tell them not to worry, because when we look at the miscellaneous workers’ union office in Thomas Street, we do not see any little strings coming out of Dave Kelly’s office pulling our hands and making our mouths move. None of us has to respond politically—not like the member for Kwinana and not like the member for Nollamara. None of us—no-one on this side—owes our political future to Dave Kelly, and nor does my friend the member for Bassendean. That is why he nearly lost his seat. The SPEAKER : Thank you, members. I presume that the member for Cockburn has a supplementary question to ask.
Mr T.R. BUSWELL : There was a time in Western Australia when the schools were cleaned by contract cleaners. Under the former government, the original Minister for Education, the member for Willagee, thought that was a good set of arrangements. He was under enormous pressure from the miscellaneous workers’ union. It threatened to run him out of his seat. It threatened to do all sorts of things because he refused to yield to the union’s demands that those contract cleaners be replaced by a day labour force in schools. What does “day labour force” mean? It means that a person is a member of the miscellaneous workers’ union. It was a policy designed to force about 2 600 Western Australian workers into membership of the miscellaneous workers’ union. They would then pay their weekly membership fee, which flowed to the miscellaneous workers’ union, and some of which flowed back to the Australian Labor Party as donations for election campaigns. Anyway, here is the point. That required extra funding. It required more than $5 million of extra funding in two budget years. I am sure the former Treasurer will recall that. It required $2.8 million in 2005-06 and $3.3 million in 2006-07. My advice is that the cost of that policy — Mr E.S. Ripper interjected. The SPEAKER : Leader of the Opposition! Mr T.R. BUSWELL : I will tell members opposite something. When people turn up at a school with their kids, do members opposite seriously think that that is the first thing in their minds as they pull into the parking bay in the morning? They want a decent school, they want well-paid teachers and they want good educational infrastructure. Do they care if the people cleaning the school belong to the miscellaneous workers’ union? No, they do not. They pay taxes in this state and they want value for money. Notwithstanding all that, no policy decision of this government has been made to change tack regarding the widespread reintroduction of contract cleaning in schools and in the health system. However, I must say also that we have an obligation to deliver quality educational outcomes, and we have an obligation to deliver value for money for Western Australian taxpayers. Do members know what? Do they know what I keep telling the agency when we talk about wage negotiations with the miscellaneous workers’ union? The people down there in Commerce are nervous. They say so. I tell them not to worry, because when we look at the miscellaneous workers’ union office in Thomas Street, we do not see any little strings coming out of Dave Kelly’s office pulling our hands and making our mouths move. None of us has to respond politically—not like the member for Kwinana and not like the member for Nollamara. None of us—no-one on this side—owes our political future to Dave Kelly, and nor does my friend the member for Bassendean. That is why he nearly lost his seat. The SPEAKER : Thank you, members. I presume that the member for Cockburn has a supplementary question to ask.
Mr E.S. Ripper interjected. The SPEAKER : Leader of the Opposition! Mr T.R. BUSWELL : I will tell members opposite something. When people turn up at a school with their kids, do members opposite seriously think that that is the first thing in their minds as they pull into the parking bay in the morning? They want a decent school, they want well-paid teachers and they want good educational infrastructure. Do they care if the people cleaning the school belong to the miscellaneous workers’ union? No, they do not. They pay taxes in this state and they want value for money. Notwithstanding all that, no policy decision of this government has been made to change tack regarding the widespread reintroduction of contract cleaning in schools and in the health system. However, I must say also that we have an obligation to deliver quality educational outcomes, and we have an obligation to deliver value for money for Western Australian taxpayers. Do members know what? Do they know what I keep telling the agency when we talk about wage negotiations with the miscellaneous workers’ union? The people down there in Commerce are nervous. They say so. I tell them not to worry, because when we look at the miscellaneous workers’ union office in Thomas Street, we do not see any little strings coming out of Dave Kelly’s office pulling our hands and making our mouths move. None of us has to respond politically—not like the member for Kwinana and not like the member for Nollamara. None of us—no-one on this side—owes our political future to Dave Kelly, and nor does my friend the member for Bassendean. That is why he nearly lost his seat. The SPEAKER : Thank you, members. I presume that the member for Cockburn has a supplementary question to ask.
The SPEAKER : Leader of the Opposition! Mr T.R. BUSWELL : I will tell members opposite something. When people turn up at a school with their kids, do members opposite seriously think that that is the first thing in their minds as they pull into the parking bay in the morning? They want a decent school, they want well-paid teachers and they want good educational infrastructure. Do they care if the people cleaning the school belong to the miscellaneous workers’ union? No, they do not. They pay taxes in this state and they want value for money. Notwithstanding all that, no policy decision of this government has been made to change tack regarding the widespread reintroduction of contract cleaning in schools and in the health system. However, I must say also that we have an obligation to deliver quality educational outcomes, and we have an obligation to deliver value for money for Western Australian taxpayers. Do members know what? Do they know what I keep telling the agency when we talk about wage negotiations with the miscellaneous workers’ union? The people down there in Commerce are nervous. They say so. I tell them not to worry, because when we look at the miscellaneous workers’ union office in Thomas Street, we do not see any little strings coming out of Dave Kelly’s office pulling our hands and making our mouths move. None of us has to respond politically—not like the member for Kwinana and not like the member for Nollamara. None of us—no-one on this side—owes our political future to Dave Kelly, and nor does my friend the member for Bassendean. That is why he nearly lost his seat. The SPEAKER : Thank you, members. I presume that the member for Cockburn has a supplementary question to ask.
Mr T.R. BUSWELL : I will tell members opposite something. When people turn up at a school with their kids, do members opposite seriously think that that is the first thing in their minds as they pull into the parking bay in the morning? They want a decent school, they want well-paid teachers and they want good educational infrastructure. Do they care if the people cleaning the school belong to the miscellaneous workers’ union? No, they do not. They pay taxes in this state and they want value for money. Notwithstanding all that, no policy decision of this government has been made to change tack regarding the widespread reintroduction of contract cleaning in schools and in the health system. However, I must say also that we have an obligation to deliver quality educational outcomes, and we have an obligation to deliver value for money for Western Australian taxpayers. Do members know what? Do they know what I keep telling the agency when we talk about wage negotiations with the miscellaneous workers’ union? The people down there in Commerce are nervous. They say so. I tell them not to worry, because when we look at the miscellaneous workers’ union office in Thomas Street, we do not see any little strings coming out of Dave Kelly’s office pulling our hands and making our mouths move. None of us has to respond politically—not like the member for Kwinana and not like the member for Nollamara. None of us—no-one on this side—owes our political future to Dave Kelly, and nor does my friend the member for Bassendean. That is why he nearly lost his seat. The SPEAKER : Thank you, members. I presume that the member for Cockburn has a supplementary question to ask.
Notwithstanding all that, no policy decision of this government has been made to change tack regarding the widespread reintroduction of contract cleaning in schools and in the health system. However, I must say also that we have an obligation to deliver quality educational outcomes, and we have an obligation to deliver value for money for Western Australian taxpayers. Do members know what? Do they know what I keep telling the agency when we talk about wage negotiations with the miscellaneous workers’ union? The people down there in Commerce are nervous. They say so. I tell them not to worry, because when we look at the miscellaneous workers’ union office in Thomas Street, we do not see any little strings coming out of Dave Kelly’s office pulling our hands and making our mouths move. None of us has to respond politically—not like the member for Kwinana and not like the member for Nollamara. None of us—no-one on this side—owes our political future to Dave Kelly, and nor does my friend the member for Bassendean. That is why he nearly lost his seat. The SPEAKER : Thank you, members. I presume that the member for Cockburn has a supplementary question to ask.
The SPEAKER : Thank you, members. I presume that the member for Cockburn has a supplementary question to ask.
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