Page 2421 - Week 09 - Tuesday, 7 August 1990
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I have emphasised already the basic reasons why the Government finds itself needing to act and I will emphasise once more the key aspects of those reasons. We need to reduce our education budget in the light of our problems with the Commonwealth funding of the Territory.
Ms Follett: How much?
MR HUMPHRIES: Mr Kaine, the Chief Minister, has clearly indicated that he sought savings across-the-board, as an overall exercise, of about $25m. Whether a proportion of that, a strict 25 per cent proportion of that, is required ultimately by the Education Department is a matter for which Ms Follett will have to wait. The education budget, in case she is not aware, amounts to a quarter of the ACT's overall budget. To insulate that from any cuts, to insulate that from any of the obvious budget saving that needs to go on is just impracticable, particularly given the fact that if we were to do so the pressure on other areas of the budget would undoubtedly give rise to calls by those opposite for us to insulate them as well.
We get back to the basic problem. Those opposite have not shown how they would make the equation work. They have not shown where they would put money in or take money out to produce a result that would give us a balanced budget into the coming years, and I think we have to ask and demand that before we listen to the frantic ravings of those opposite.
It has to be acknowledged that there are some problems and, for example, some distressed children and other issues that give us concern. It would be insensitive and foolish not to be aware of those things. Frankly, I think that a much greater disruption to children's education, a much greater distress to them and their parents would be an inability on our part as a Government to fund education services properly in the places where they really matter, and that is what this Government is intent on ensuring continues to be provided by this Territory.
For example, I could easily have said that I would make these savings by increasing class sizes. It has been done by previous Governments, not necessarily expressly and not necessarily openly but it has been done. The ACT's position relative to other places in Australia has declined over the last few years in respect of class sizes and hence of teaching numbers, and those opposite will have to be aware that some of that fault lies very squarely in the court of the Australian Labor Party. I think that that is one course of action we could have taken and we chose not to.
We could have reduced the number of ancillary services available to education in the Territory. We could have done what the previous Government did and reduced the number of relief teaching hours available, cut into the reading recovery program, reduced particular services
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