Page 1844 - Week 07 - Wednesday, 30 May 1990
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administrative hierarchy that they are indispensable whilst the education and welfare of our students are not? If the Minister was not made aware of this document about which I am talking, must we presume that Dr Kinloch has failed in his executive responsibilities yet again?
MR HUMPHRIES: Mr Speaker, I do not know to what document Mr Moore is referring. It is possible that some documents that have come before the Government or me personally or Dr Kinloch personally have been discussed between me and Dr Kinloch. I really cannot recall. I discuss a great deal of what happens in education with Dr Kinloch. We discuss documents all the time. If the document to which Mr Moore is referring comes from outside the ACT Government Service, it is conceivable that it was referred to appropriate areas of the Department of Education for further consideration. It may be the case in those circumstances that I have not yet seen it.
However, if he would care to describe to me, after question time, what that document looks like, I am very happy to go back and examine my records to see what exposure I have had to it. It is quite evident, Mr Speaker, that the Government has a very strong intention to discuss the implications of these sorts of changes with the community. If there are ways - and I have certainly been to public meetings at which this view has been expressed - of trimming the size of the education bureaucracy without affecting the quality of our system, I will naturally be looking at those sorts of options. I made that clear at a number of meetings.
But I think the point has to be borne in mind that the ACT has an excellent education system; it has long had a very good education system; and it has had that system not just because of some ethereal factor that floats around the ACT and magically settles on schools. It has happened for a number of reasons, including the quality of the advice and the support given to successive Ministers responsible for schools in the ACT by the Education Department and its predecessors.
I will not accept the view shamefully touted by Mr Moore in this place that we can willy-nilly run about the Territory cutting back the number of public servants serving the Government - sacking public servants - merely because, in his view, they are redundant or do not adequately serve the Government. That is a shameful suggestion. It is without foundation in the vast majority of cases. This Government will be considering the levels of manning within the ACT public service, assessing critically and carefully what is and is not essential to the maintenance of a high-quality education system, and acting accordingly.
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