Page 858 - Week 04 - Tuesday, 16 June 1992
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In the case of the ACT, we have had recent decisions - that is, in the last 12 months - which have very strongly and adversely affected parents in some schools, namely, the two grammar schools and the AME School. Those decisions would have made, I think, a quite significant contribution to the shift out of those non-government schools. I shall be asking the Minister for Education questions about the way in which that shift has occurred from those particular schools and whether any identifiable number of students have gone from those sorts of schools into government schools.
Of course, there is another question altogether, and that is whether or not the Government ought not to be looking not just to stemming the flow of students from the non-government sector to the government sector, where of course they impose a very heavy burden on government. All children in the ACT incur some cost to the Government in terms of education, but government school students incur something like three or four times the cost to the ACT taxpayer directly, through his or her taxes, that non-government school students do.
Mr Moore: Not true.
MR HUMPHRIES: It is in that vicinity, Mr Moore, and I suggest that you look at your figures. The question is not just whether we should be stemming that tide but whether, in fact, the ACT should be taking steps to reverse that tide. The ACT has the highest level of participation in non-government education of any place in the country, and it is reasonable to assume, Madam Speaker, that if parents were better financially placed many of them would also make the election to send their children to non-government schools if they were able to.
Mr Connolly: It is the best government school system in the country.
MR HUMPHRIES: I agree with that. I agree with Mr Connolly's statement that we do have the best government school system in the country; but, patently, we also have a very good non-government system, otherwise people would not be sending them in such large numbers, and we do have the highest level of non-government school participation in the whole of the country. There must be some reason for that.
I would suggest, Madam Speaker, that the excellence of our government system would be enhanced if we had more per capita to spend on that system. We simply will not be able to spend that sort of money on the system while pressure continues to increase on it and we have a flow into the government system at a rate which we cannot cope with. It would seem to me logical to support in every way the duality of our present system, to strengthen that system by giving parents a real choice. People should choose the government sector because they genuinely want what is on offer in that sector, not because they have no financial choice in the matter.
But forget the argument in educational terms, Madam Speaker. That is not important in this debate. What is important is making sure that this Government has the money to pay for essential services, and I am suggesting a way in which it may be possible for the ACT to make the available education dollars go further or perhaps even to create more education dollars because there is more money to go around.
Mr Berry: Close 25 schools?
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