Page 4991 - Week 16 - Tuesday, 26 November 1991
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so that we are treating both sectors in a way which does them justice. I mentioned, for example, in that motion that appeared before the Assembly this afternoon, the idea of cooperative or shared campuses between government and non-government schools. This is a concept which has worked well, apparently, in South Australia. It appears to me that in places like Gungahlin, variations for which have appeared on the table this evening, we have excellent opportunities available to get off on a better footing in the planning of the provision of education services than we have in the past.
In particular, there seems to be every opportunity to provide for a more flexible arrangement for the planning of both non-government and government schooling in that part of Canberra. I am not sure how far down the track the variations that have been tabled tonight go; but I certainly believe that we have much to do to ease the philosophical, physical and intellectual differences perhaps in the community between those two sectors, which have accounted, I regret to say, for much of the animosity which has drawn this Assembly into debate in the last few weeks.
Proposed expenditure agreed to.
Proposed expenditure - Division 240 - Higher Education and Training, $2,028,100 - agreed to.
Proposed expenditure - Division 250 - Arts, $9,382,400
MR HUMPHRIES (11.37): Mr Speaker, I just want to indicate that the Opposition is very fair when it comes to criticism or credit for the Government. We have certainly attacked their decision with respect to a number of areas, non-government schooling being only one; but it is worth commenting that the Government, in our view, has done the arts proud with its funding allocations for this year. We are pleased that they have been able to sustain a real increase in arts funding in the ACT.
It may be a bit of a Cinderella in that sense. I am not sure that there is any logical reason why funding should be particularly targeted to the arts over other areas of great need in the ACT; but I must say, as shadow Minister for the Arts and former Minister for the Arts, that I am pleased with that, and I fully endorse and welcome it.
There are, of course, difficult issues in the arts, and in some ways having lots of money, or having a large bucket of money, only makes the task of administrators, of members of the Arts Development Board, or whatever its successor might be called, and of the Minister that much more difficult when they have to divide that bucket between intensely competing groups.
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