John Murphy (Lowe, Australian Labor Party, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Trade) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you. Last night at about 7 pm my wife sought to purchase a hot meal from the staff cafeteria. My wife questioned the little amount of hot food on offer at dinnertime to customers and she was advised, ‘That is it for the night.’ At 12 pm today my wife questioned the size of the food portions she was offered by the staff at the cafeteria when she ordered beef stroganoff and rice for lunch. My wife was told by cafeteria staff that management had told staff they had been serving big food portions and the manager had instructed them to make the portions smaller. Staff suggested my wife take this matter up with the cafeteria manager. Upon raising this matter with the manager, the manager took my wife into the kitchen, blaming DPS for not making the new provider aware of the impact on the cafeteria of peak periods like parliamentary sittings and Senate estimates. Moreover, the cafeteria manager insulted my wife by telling her, ‘If you don’t like it, bring your own lunch.’ He then walked off. Is this the attitude customers have to put up with from the new provider of the staff cafeteria? Would you inquire into these matters?

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