Page 45 - Week 01 - Tuesday, 7 April 1992
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accountability in our hospitals. The Woden Valley Hospital redevelopment program will be completed. New public health facilities will be provided on Acton Peninsula and the Government will establish an independent health complaints unit to protect ACT health consumers.
The education of our young people remains a high priority for Labor. We believe that the next three years should be a period of stability and consolidation in the school system. It is time that the debate focused on the quality of education, not simply on the cost of schools and school buildings themselves. No further schools will be closed in the next three years. We will develop a long-term plan for the funding and development of high schools and provide them with extra resources to tackle the increasing need for improved pastoral care, counselling and careers advice.
The Government rejects proposals which suggest that the size of a school should determine its quality. Accordingly, there will be no per capita funding of government schools. We will continue to provide recurrent funding to non-government schools at a rate not less than the present 50 per cent of the Commonwealth's contribution.
Madam Speaker, the Government is committed to protecting the special features of Canberra which make it such an attractive place in which to live and to work. Canberra provides an enviable lifestyle and a very attractive natural setting. Planning under this Government will preserve these features, upon which our community places such a high priority. Planning and land management will continue to be based upon the leasehold system. Planning in residential areas will not be based on a broad zoning system. Changes to land use within or adjacent to existing residential areas will allow full consultation and rights of appeal.
Residential land will be released at a sufficient rate to ensure that it is available at affordable prices. The Government will act carefully over time to restore the servicing and sale of land to the public sector so that the community receives the best return for the sale of public land.
We will continue to give a high priority to environmental protection. A statutory position of Commissioner for the Environment will be set up to investigate and report on complaints about government or private activities which affect the environment. New legislation will protect endangered native plants and animals. We will introduce legislation to control hazardous chemicals and provide a new liquid waste treatment facility so that liquid wastes are no longer buried in landfill sites. A kerbside recycling collection trial will be undertaken to evaluate the household collection of recyclable materials.
Mr De Domenico: Another one of our policies, Gary.
MS FOLLETT: One of the great advantages of self-government has been the opportunity for law reform in areas neglected for many years by Commonwealth Ministers. This Government will give urgent priority to updating consumer protection laws. Tenants' rights will be further protected with the introduction of a comprehensive Residential Tenancies Act. They are not claiming this one.
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