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Legislative Council - Fifty-First Parliament, Second Session (51-2)
2008-04-08 Daily Xml
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TRANSPORT DEPARTMENT INQUIRY LINE

The Hon. T.J. STEPHENS (14:47): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Police, representing the Minister for Transport, a question about the Department of Transport inquiry line.

Leave granted.

The Hon. T.J. STEPHENS: Last week, I was contacted by a very angry constituent who had called the Department of Transport inquiry line regarding a registration query. He advised me that, when he called the first time and then subsequent times over a period, he repeatedly got a message advising him to call back later as the line was experiencing heavy traffic. He left it for a while, only to hold on for what he seemed like an hour when he called back later, and then the line simply dropped out. It is understandable that he then gave up. My questions are:

1. Will the minister advise whether this service is properly staffed and whether there has been feedback to the Department of Transport about calls going unanswered?

2. Will the minister look into this situation, along with every other situation that he seems to mess up and, indeed, will he fix it, Pat?

The PRESIDENT: The honourable member will refrain from opinion.

The Hon. P. HOLLOWAY (Minister for Police, Minister for Mineral Resources Development, Minister for Urban Development and Planning) (14:48): I will refer that question to the Minister for Transport. However, I can say unequivocally that the service that is provided by this government is a lot better than it would have been had the previous government been elected and had cut 4,000 public servants. Just two years ago, the honourable member who asked the question was part of a political party that went to the election saying, 'We will cut—

The Hon. J.M.A. Lensink interjecting:

The Hon. P. HOLLOWAY: 'Oh, gee,' the deputy leader says. If you are going to go to an election saying, 'We will cut 4,000 public servants,' who do they think is actually going to be cut? What do they think will happen if you cut 4,000 public servants? It is a bit rich when opposition members get up in this parliament and say, 'Why don't we have enough staff here, why don't we have enough staff there?' You cannot have it both ways. Perhaps the shadow treasurer (who I think is still the Leader of the Opposition in another place) needs to do a lot of work over the next two years to try to find out—

The Hon. J.M.A. Lensink interjecting:

The Hon. P. HOLLOWAY: He will certainly need to—exactly what the opposition wants, and perhaps the opposition can work out in the next two years exactly whether it is going to increase the number of public servants and, if so, how it will fund them. It is a pretty elementary, straightforward question. You cannot have it both ways. But I am sure, regardless of how many staff one has in any area, that, from time to time, there will be times when these public inquiry lines will be busy.

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