Page 2882 - Week 13 - Thursday, 23 November 1989
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APPROPRIATION BILL 1989-90
Detail Stage
Consideration resumed from 22 November 1989.
Schedule 1 - Part II
Proposed expenditures - Department of Education -
Division 70.1, $171,738,900
DR KINLOCH (10.42): Mr Speaker, I do not wish to take too much time on this because we have a huge amount to do through the Appropriation Bill but there are some matters which have budget implications which have not been fully addressed, and some of these have come up either since the original discussions on the budget or since the discussions in the Estimates Committee. I will cut some of these very short. I have the following worries about matters related to education. The first matter arises from subprogram 7.5 in budget paper No. 5. I am worried about any unjustifiable attempts to cut preschools, especially where there are at least 14 or 15 youngsters in the local situation. That matter has already been canvassed. I welcome a recent statement by the Minister to assure us that there will be no such attempts until at least 1990-91. So I will therefore set that aside.
The second matter relates to subprogram 7.3 in budget paper No. 5. There have been several closures of primary schools, as reflected in the budget paper. There is much worry now. I have had a recent reaction this week in the Belconnen community, in particular, about the immediate future and about the future of primary schools during the next few years.
The Rally, of course, applauds moves to keep those schools open, unless there is an absolutely watertight, clear case for closing them. I would here applaud the intention to move towards early intervention programs and the funding of those programs. Some of us have a particular concern about Down's syndrome. I prefer that term. This is very good news.
I turn now to subprogram 7.2: high school education. Since the original budget discussions and the Estimates Committee discussions there has been one proposed initiative which has budget implications not yet discussed. This is the suggestion made some time ago, but certainly still under discussion, that high schools need a new administrative structure, not only with principals but also with assistant principals. I understand that there is some worry within the Schools Office about what is happening in high schools - the identity of them, the morale of them. We hear about enforced transfers from colleges to high schools, the loss of sense of institutional identity, the creation of junior teenage gangs and dissident groups. I assure all members of the Assembly, reflecting what is
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