Page 2331 - Week 08 - Friday, 21 June 1991
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accentuated those problems. We support Labor's moratorium on the fast tracking. It is time, Mr Speaker, to have a stocktake and work out the best way forward.
Mr Speaker, it is not just a question of defining the best hospitals strategy, important as that is; there is also the need to address the inefficiencies of the health bureaucracy. The Health Department has a large central staff which is quite massive in comparison to the size of our health system. Rather than cut services, much can be gained by cutting overheads.
On the education front, Mr Speaker, much of the deficit arises, ironically, from the success of the ACT education system. We have the highest participation rates in the country for preschools. Again, at the other end of the school system, we have by far the highest retention rates in years 11 and 12 because of our excellent college system. The colleges are so successful that they reverse the drain to the private school system in those years. The extra years at school are certainly an added cost, but the benefits to the students and our community far outweigh the costs. A highly educated and skilled work force is essential so that Canberra can develop from being just a government town.
Our TAFE system also has high enrolments but has already been hit hard by budget cutbacks. Up to a point the cutbacks brought about improved economy and efficiency in the TAFE system; but further cuts will force cuts in courses and services, to the detriment of staff and students. In particular, recreational courses were an early casualty. An unfortunate consequence has been to cut off an avenue for women to rejoin the work force. These recreational courses have proved useful in helping women to redevelop their study skills so that they then have the confidence to take on vocational courses and become skilled members of the work force. Similarly, the disadvantaged are being penalised by the greatly increased course fees. Support services for those with disabilities have been eroded, and their chances for equal opportunity are fading away.
Mr Speaker, the Federal Government emphasises the need for Australia to become the clever country. Cutting back on government spending is a line pressed on us by the so-called economic rationalists, but cutting back on education is hardly the way to become clever. Many of the OECD countries are now increasing their education budgets so that they can compete in today's information based economy. This is a point that the new ACT Government should be making, and making vigorously, to their colleagues in the Federal Government.
Plainly, education services cannot continue to be cut. At the same time the budget deficit must be addressed. One option, Mr Speaker, is to meet the deficit with increased taxes, as embodied to some extent in this Bill. The
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