Page 1821 - Week 07 - Wednesday, 30 May 1990
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any government has to face, and this Government is facing it responsibly.
There are a couple of other instances which Ms Maher mentioned. Weston Creek Primary School enrolments, for example, dropped from a peak of 3,900 in 1978 to fewer than 1,800 in 1990. The trend is similar in other areas of Canberra. While the educational quality is high in all Canberra public schools, the cost of running the large schools with small enrolments is much greater on a per student basis than it is when greater numbers of students are enrolled.
In many ways, Mr Speaker, this debate is a little like the hospital debate. People naturally get very upset at the concept of closing the Royal Canberra Hospital and not using that as a principal hospital facility. I think a lot of emotion comes into a debate such as that. A number of people have told me, "Oh, but Woden Valley isn't as good as Royal Canberra; the service you get there isn't as good". I think there is an important point there. A hospital, or a school, is a building. It is the people who make up a school or a hospital who are important. The people who provide the service, be they nurses, doctors or teachers, and the people who use the services - in the case of schools, the students - are the important factors. Indeed, if the staff are good and the pupils are keen to learn, you have a good school, regardless of where it is or what size it is. I think that is something we should not forget in this debate.
MR COLLAERY (Attorney-General)(11.54): Mr Speaker, I think my first task should be to put down some of the myths that have been raised here today. One of the clearest myths that has been put out has been that this exercise has some ideological twist to it; that this Government is against the government schools system. Clearly, on this side of the house, we have the numbers on those issues. You have just heard Mr Stefaniak give a resounding speech in support of the government schools system, and two of us have wives who are members of the Teachers Federation and who teach in the system. Between them, the three Rally members have nine children who either have gone or are going through the government schools system at the moment. So do not tell us that there is an ideological twist about the Liberal Party, the Residents Rally, or anyone else in this exercise. I will come back to the ideology of it in a moment.
Firstly, I believe we should see this debate in perspective. The perspective is self-government and our budgetary problems; the problem of setting priorities in the budget and the social realities of continuing with a good social conscience on an important issue. Education - as Mr Wood has often recognised - is the path to economic and social advancement. But that path cannot be driven haphazardly or aggressively through other areas of social responsibility. What we hear very clearly and constantly from the ALP - and of course that limpet that sticks to it
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