Page 4889 - Week 16 - Tuesday, 26 November 1991
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Let someone in the Labor Party address this during the debate on the motion put forward by Mr Humphries. I commend him for it. It is unfortunate that it had to come to this. Mr Humphries makes the point, quite correctly, that it was not until it came to this that the Labor Party, with an attempt at face saving, tried to say, "We agree with an inquiry". Yet Mr Wood berated Mr Humphries for bringing it on in the first place and suggested that an inquiry was not needed and that there had been full consultation. Where is the truth of the matter?
Mr Wood said that there had been consultation. Once again, it is consultation that is in the mind of the Labor Party, not in the minds of the people who want to be consulted. How can there be consultation if the people you supposedly need to consult with do not know that they had any and do not know what you are proposing? You have suddenly sprung it on people.
We thought it was necessary to ask people in Canberra what they thought about the proposed budget cuts to the three schools. Some people may have thought that the majority would not agree that there should be equitable funding for non-government schools. Yet our surveys show that the majority of people in Canberra are fair in their understanding and in the value they place on money going to fund all education, not just government-run education. Our surveys showed that 59 per cent oppose the budget cuts to non-government schools; 35 per cent support them.
I wonder how many of those people know the real funding situation. There is no doubt that some people in this community feel that non-government schools get extra money on top of that which goes to government schools. We know that the reverse is true. They do not get a fair go. They do not get the same fair go that parents who send their children to government schools get.
Mr Wood said that the decision by the Labor Party to hold an inquiry was not based on any lack of confidence on the part of the Government, or words to that effect. I suggest that the decision was made because Mr Wood and the members of the Labor Party know full well that this Assembly will vote to hold an inquiry. Any suggestion that the Labor Party would not hold that inquiry is an absurdity, a nonsense, and has nothing whatsoever to do with a democracy.
Mr Wood: We need not take any notice of the Assembly, if we so choose.
MR STEVENSON: That is the point I make. Mr Wood says, "We need not take any notice of the Assembly".
Mr Wood: If we choose.
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