Bill ‘threatens public servants’

Press, 2 June 1982, Page 6

Bill ‘threatens public servants’

Parliamentary reporter •' A bill giving members of the Armed Forces equal right of appointment to the Public Service as existing public servants threatens the career prospects of employees, the Public Service Association has told the Labour and Education Select Committee. Making submissions on the State Services Amendment Bill, the P.S.A. said the “clearly more merit” system used in the past had protected promotion opportunities for public servants by allowing recruitment outside the Public Service only when those special skills and abilities were not available within it. It had been used to overturn the provisional appointment of former Armed Forces personnel. The bill offers, an elite

group “fast track" access ‘tof the Public Service. and:as : sessed merit on grounds ir-„ relevant to Public Service employment. The Armed Forces had short-term career structures and prescribed early retirement provisions unlike the Public Service, the P.S.A. said. Wing Commander G.A. Parkinson said that servicemen would be pleased to see common treatment . given them. The bill addressed servicemen’s resettlement problems, and gave the Public Service access to the skills and qualifications of a group of State servants highly trained at public expense. - Most servicemen would enter the public service at. grades lower than equivalent positions held in the military and would not take higher graded public service jobs from existing officers, he said. ■