Page 287 - Week 02 - Tuesday, 12 May 1992
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On the education of our young people, we have heard a great deal this evening about education, about the importance of TAFE and about the importance of testing young children. It is important that young children be tested, but not in the way that the Minister, Virginia Chadwick, suggests; that somehow or other we should get an overview that suits a small number of politicians and people who want to make mileage out of it. We should allow our professionals to test to ascertain whether an individual has a problem and work out how to solve that problem. That is what modern education does. The Australian Council for Educational Research - if Mr Cornwell contacts that body it will provide figures for him - indicates that there has been a great deal of improvement in numeracy and literacy in the ACT - in fact across Australia, but particularly in the ACT - year after year.
When are the unpopular issues going to be given some priority? How are we going to deal with youth homelessness? How are we going to deal with things like incest, violence in the home, and issues like that? These issues are understandably daunting, but they are looming as vital. Canberra has huge social problems which are exacerbated by the fact that they are often ignored and denied. Violence in the home, child abuse for instance, is increasing at an alarming rate, according to all agencies involved, as are poverty and unemployment. Lateral thinking and long-term strategies are required for the future of the ACT. If this Government is serious about taking the lead in the ACT and responding to the needs of people, then long-term strategies to combat these problems need to be implemented.
Madam Speaker, another issue is that the public has a right to know the details of how the new ACT electoral system will be implemented. We know that Rosemary Follett made a commitment to the referendum on Hare-Clark, but I think it is important for us to understand the detail of that commitment. That is an issue for debate at a further time. I think it is appropriate to continue the sailing analogy with regard to rocking the boat. I wish the helmsman well and trust that the independent navigation system will help keep you on the track.
MR CORNWELL (9.17): Madam Speaker, I rise to comment on the Labor Government's program as annunciated by the Chief Minister. I will again refer to the education area. There are some 13 lines devoted to that subject in the program. I have no complaints with that, of course, because it was a program that had to deal with most areas. However, there are perhaps five points that I would like to make about those 13 lines.
The first relates to the quality of education. Ms Follett stated that it was time the debate focused on the quality of education, not simply the cost of schools and school buildings themselves. I would suggest to the Government that that may not be the case in some of the Tuggeranong suburbs such as Conder and Gordon, where I understand that there could be a move to create what I can best describe as jumbo primary schools with up to 750 students.
I am indebted to the ACT Council of Parents and Citizens Associations Incorporated for raising this matter with me. There are indications that primary schools in Gordon and Conder are planned for a catchment of around 2,000 standard dwellings which expect to yield a peak enrolment of 750. I would
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