Page 1263 - Week 05 - Tuesday, 16 April 1991
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The issue that has been raised, I understand, more recently, is the question of whether children should be immunised as a precondition of their attending schools in the ACT. That is a question on which the Government has yet to form a policy. It may be that in due course we should have a view that children at least prove a certain level of immunisation before attending school, or that some other requirement with respect to immunisation occurs before a child attends school. That is a question which is still being explored, and rightly so, given that there is no nationally agreed position on what should happen in that regard. I would rather act in concert with my colleagues, the Ministers for Health and Education in other States. When I have a position which is nationally agreed, I would be much happier to implement that in the ACT.
School Principals - Appeals
MR MOORE: Mr Speaker, my question is also directed to Mr Humphries, and refers to an article in this morning's Canberra Times as well. A recent round of appeals in the education system in the Tuggeranong Valley in relation to principals' positions has resulted in at least two selection panels' decisions being overturned, with consequent distress and disruption to at least four school communities. Does the Minister accept that there is something inherently wrong with an education system that allows appeals against principals' promotions to be heard after the promoted applicants have started in their positions? A school has a say in the selection of its principal through the presence of the school board chair on the selection panel. The school community has no such input into the appeal process, and therefore no guarantee that its selection criteria are being considered. What action does the Minister propose to take to rectify this situation?
MR HUMPHRIES: Mr Speaker, joint selection panels for principals' appointments are currently a matter of industrial dispute between the ACT Teachers Federation and the ministry. The latest round of appointments of principals was not processed, in fact, by joint selection panels. In accordance with the provisions of the ACT Teaching Service Act, all promotions to the position of principal are subject to appeal at this time. That body is, of course, as Mr Moore has indicated, an independent body. Its majority decisions are binding on the ministry and its delegate who makes the initial decisions, and I think Mr Moore will find that that policy is one of some standing in the ACT. Mr Moore suggested to me that, in effect, we should change that policy. I think that is what he is saying to me - that we should consider changing the policy under which appeals are conducted and the time at which they are conducted. There is also the question of whether appeals might be done in some way so as to involve people at the school level.
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