Page 2286 - Week 08 - Thursday, 7 June 1990
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MR WOOD: You did not say that, well, fine.
Mr Collaery: I read a quote from the League of Rights journal.
MR WOOD: Well, you read a quote. For what purpose?
MR SPEAKER: Order! Please address your comments through the Chair.
MR WOOD: Yes, indeed. You read a quote to support your argument, but indeed by the end of your speech you were following that same course yourself. The Government seems at this stage to have fallen back on a rather strange argument. It seems to be saying, or trying to say with great difficulty, that it is simply doing what the Assembly wants. It suggests that it is following the instructions of the Assembly - that somehow out of the loss of Mr Stevenson's proposal to ban X-rated videos comes a proposal to tax X-rated videos.
On the subject of X-rated videos, there have been two motions before this Assembly. The first was last year when the then Follett Government's proposal to tax them was defeated. So, if the Government is calling on that for support, I do not see how it can do so. The second was Mr Stevenson's motion earlier this year to ban X-rated videos, which was also lost.
As a result of those two motions, I can see no argument that the Government can now use to say, "Well, by taxing X-rated videos we're just doing what the Assembly wants". That is an entirely spurious argument. It has no foundation and it shows the difficulty in which the Government is finding itself in its attempt to justify what it is doing.
I want to express my lack of confidence in this Government principally because of the way it is mishandling major changes to education. Let me emphasise that these are major changes. We are not closing a school here or there; we are not proposing some modification to curriculum; we are not making minor adjustments. The Minister announced, almost as though it was off the top of his head, that he was going to close up to 25 schools. He is proposing a major change. Subsequently, it has been clearly demonstrated that all this is being done without any planning at all. There has been no forethought given to it. It was dropped off the top of his head and he is endeavouring to make adjustments subsequently.
This is a major change. If it is to proceed, it requires the most careful, detailed planning. Such a mammoth change requires very careful planning beforehand and very careful implementation if it is to have any hope of succeeding without severe distress to the education system.
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