Page 1419 - Week 08 - Tuesday, 26 September 1989
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In respect of expenditure reductions in the education area, the proposals concerning reductions in the supplementary staffing resources provided by the Department of Education provoked a great deal of public comment. I should point out that the supplementary teaching resources, over and above normal classroom staffing, cost some $20m per annum. The Government was concerned that some of the proposals may have had a detrimental impact on the quality of education provided, and therefore has decided not to implement them. Specifically, there will be no reduction of staff at Birrigai, and staffing at the introductory English centres for learning assistance and special education will also remain unchanged. We have also decided that two of the five positions in the reading recovery training program will be retained.
The Government has also reconsidered the phasing-in period for productivity savings in high schools and colleges resulting from the injection of capital funds. The period will be extended from one to three years. This is in recognition of the lead time required to allow the necessary building modifications and equipment purchases before some classes can be restructured to allow the savings to be achieved.
To allow the development of appropriate curricula and ensure that educational standards are retained, the Government has decided to defer the introduction of a one year daytime year 12 certificate, to be taught at TAFE, until the beginning of 1991.
The consultation process produced strong concern about the potential impact on low income, predominantly female, employees. We are committed to a socially just approach to budget formulation and therefore carefully examined these claims.
On this basis, the Government has decided not to pursue the proposed reduction in non-student contact periods for preschool assistants. Instead, negotiations will be entered into to find an alternative way to implement the Chase report recommendation to provide ancillary staff at reduced cost without disadvantaging these staff.
Similarly, the Government has decided not to proceed with proposed changes to school support positions because of the financial impact on this group of employees. The proposal would have seen new employees in these positions being paid on the basis of a 31 hours 15 minutes week rather than a 36 hours 45 minutes week.
Another group of predominantly female employees who are identified as being affected are nurses. The Government has reviewed some of the savings measures in this area. In particular, the proposal to coordinate staff accrued days off has been modified. Existing arrangements will continue so that these days generally fall in conjunction with normal days off. The implementation of other savings measures will be negotiated.
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