Metropolitan Fire Service

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Leader of the Opposition) (14:24): A supplementary arising from the original answer: can the Treasurer outline what specific parts of any of the requests or claims from the union representing the Metropolitan Fire Service he or the government consider to be unreasonable?

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS (Treasurer) (14:25): We don't propose to conduct our enterprise bargaining negotiations in a public forum like this. We will treat the union and its hardworking members with respect. I have met with Max and the gang representing the union, who are employees, as I have always done. I have never refused a meeting with a union leader representing his or her union representatives or union members and we have frank discussions. We don't always agree—in fact, we might often disagree—but nevertheless, we treat them with respect.

Part of that respect is we don't conduct these negotiations in the public forum, as the Leader of the Opposition may wish them to be. We will continue to conduct the negotiations in a hard but fair and sensible manner, respecting the hard work of all of those employees within that particular section of the public sector. As I have said all along, particularly as we have managed COVID right across the public sector, all of those hardworking employees deserve our respect as indeed they get from me as the Treasurer.