Page 863 - Week 04 - Tuesday, 16 June 1992
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I am particularly pleased about the announcement by Mr Connolly that ACTEW also will go through that process. As a member of this parliament I have received more suggestions and more complaints about the operations of ACTEW than about any other single service in the ACT. That would be logical because of the type of services they supply and the fact that they have a much closer interaction with people. I do not make that as a general overall negative comment about ACTEW; I perceive that as being a quite logical thing to happen.
On the other side of the coin, we have to be careful to ensure that our most critical services are not cut to the stage where we are doing long-term damage. I refer, most importantly, to education, and in particular to government education. While talking about education and government education, I think it is important to draw attention to the schools that received cuts last year. I particularly would like to draw attention to the AME School. It is an issue that I have raised before and I would like to raise it again in the context of the budget. The AME School offers a specific style of alternative education. It is a school that is not used in a way that is - - -
Mr De Domenico: So do the Catholic schools. So does the grammar school. It is not just AME.
MR MOORE: The AME School is a school that is used by people who have a particular interest in a particular alternative style of education that is focused on student progress. I believe that it would be a great enhancement to our public education system if the AME School were able to be brought into the public education system so that the benefits of that style of schooling could be part and parcel of the choice that parents can make in the public education system.
This is not asking for something for which we do not already have a precedent. The initial precedent for that style is the School Without Walls, which also offers an alternative program for a different level. I think this is an appropriate time to consider the possibility of inviting the AME School into the government education system and to determine what are the blocks for that. What are the expenses incurred by the education system?
Mr Cornwell: Have you asked them?
MR MOORE: The answer, Mr Cornwell, is yes. The AME School is open to negotiation on this. It is not something they reject outright. I approach this in three ways: First, as a member of this Assembly; secondly, as an educationalist; and, thirdly, as a parent. In all three ways I can see some significant advantages in having such a school incorporated as part of the government education system. I think that that issue should be considered in the budget context, considered with all the questions that go with it and all the questions that need to be resolved.
Madam Speaker, I appreciated the opportunity to comment on some small area of the budget process and will look forward to the opportunity to make more comments during the next few months.
MS FOLLETT (Chief Minister and Treasurer) (9.10), in reply: Madam Speaker, I thank members for their comments and I will do my best to respond to at least the more substantive ones. Mr Kaine raised some interesting issues in his remarks on the Supply Bill. I am delighted to say that he at least has a much better understanding of the quantum of the Supply Bill, and indeed of the whole
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