Page 1914 - Week 07 - Thursday, 31 May 1990
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MR BERRY: You did. You said that education standards would fall. Mr Humphries said he refuted that. Look at all the chooks on the fence! There is a fox around. They are in disarray and there is disagreement in their ranks because Mr Humphries will not accept the word of his Chief Minister that education standards will fall.
Mr Jensen: Stop telling lies, Wayne.
MR SPEAKER: Mr Jensen, I request that you withdraw that comment.
Mr Jensen: I withdraw it.
MR BERRY: Mr Speaker, this Government is devoid of social conscience. It has no sense of social justice, and I think that was made very clear by Mr Collaery this morning because he is obviously running with the Liberal agenda. There will be no changes. This Government opposite, in its entirety, has a psychological bias against social justice.
One of the interesting things about the schools debate is that the excellence of our education system is reflected by our high retention rates. A quick calculation demonstrates that our high retention rates, when compared with the Australian average, cost this Government about an extra $9m per year. This Government has made it clear, and rightly so, that the high retention rates are not under attack, although I am not sure that some of their business colleagues would agree with them. The high retention rates are not under attack - at least that is their public position. Who knows what is going on behind closed doors? The Government intends to prune the roots of the education tree. It will get stuck into the base of it - the primary schools and the high schools. That is what this Government is on about - reducing education in the ACT to the lowest common denominator.
This Chief Minister says education standards will fall; the quality of education in the ACT will deteriorate. This Government has been found out. The people are rising against them and rightly so. This is only the tip of the iceberg as far as community reaction is concerned. The Liberals opposite have been found out. The Residents Rally, of course, is no longer an event in politics in the ACT and the No Self Government people never were.
Mr Speaker, the most important issue that has been overlooked in all this debate is how this Government has not considered the interests of small business in relation to the closure of schools. Mr Humphries told us yesterday he had not even bothered to work out the impact on small business - - -
Mr Collaery: You really think small business is with you?
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