Page 1667 - Week 08 - Thursday, 28 September 1989
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
She went on:
The hard fact is that as a result of these cuts when emergencies happen we will have to say, "Sorry, we can't take you in". We are talking about abuse and neglect. I'd like to know who will be looking after the kids we are looking after because there are no alternatives.
Now, bear in mind, Mr Speaker, those promises by the Government, relying on the good faith that Labor had built up, supposedly, over the years, not to cut into areas of community services.
We also find that groups like CANA, about which there have been some questions in recent weeks and which provide accommodation for those homeless young people who cannot be accommodated in other centres, are totally unfunded under this budget. What kind of record is this for a Labor government? In education we find preschool cuts going ahead despite Labor's election promise to abolish the preschool fee and not to seek to make up lost revenue through education cuts. That promise clearly, Mr Speaker, was not worth the paper it was printed on.
I want to quote what the then ALP education spokesman, Bill Wood, since demoted, told the ACT community during the election campaign. I am quoting here from the document, A Policy Statement by Bill Wood, spokesperson on education on behalf of the Australian Labor Party, Australian Capital Territory, 25 January 1989. He said:
Labor is committed to maximising preschool attendance and will implement the following policies to achieve this:
1. Abolish the current preschool fee -
here is the good bit -
guaranteeing that there will be no loss to the education budget as a result.
And what has happened? Precisely the opposite. Perhaps, Mr Speaker, we ought to have Bill Wood back as our Education Minister. The fact is that during the election Labor made it clear that its education policy was based on the education budget remaining constant. That has not happened.
I want to make mention of some of the promises that the Labor Party made in the area of health. It promised to keep Royal Canberra open; that remains to be seen. It promised an expansion of community health services and it promised that health would be a top priority for a Labor government.
Debate interrupted.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .