Page 3632 - Week 12 - Wednesday, 20 October 1993
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The question put to Mr Wood in the Estimates Committee was:
Are you going to breach that promise by now taking 80 positions out of the education system?
The Minister weaselled out of that question by saying:
Well, they might not come from teachers. They might come from administrative positions.
Of course, Madam Speaker, that was disingenuous. It cannot happen. The ALP knows perfectly well that these cuts will come from classroom teaching, and it has abrogated the promise it made to the people of the ACT.
We need to assess where we are going in education. I maintain that my party's position on this is greatly superior to that of the Labor Party. It is much easier to maintain the position of the Independents and say that we do not need any cuts at all, but that is not tenable.
Mr Moore: It is a question of priorities.
MR HUMPHRIES: We cannot reprioritise to get rid of the need to cut altogether. If you are going to cut, it makes infinitely more sense to cut buildings rather than people. Madam Speaker, as I say, I support this motion. I think it is a motion which says, "The cakes are in the oven and they are burning, so will someone please take them out, although I will not do it myself?". That is what the Independents are saying. I think that is not an intellectually sound position, but I believe that we ought to support the motion because we should make a point about the importance of classes, classroom teaching and teachers themselves.
MS SZUTY (10.42), in reply: I would like to take up a number of points that various speakers in this debate have made. Of course, the majority of speakers spoke on this issue last week during private members business. I would like to begin with some of the comments which were made by the Chief Minister in her remarks. She said that the ACT has received a much reduced funding grant from the Commonwealth Government. I acknowledge that this is, in fact, a reality - that we have suffered very much at the hands of the Commonwealth Government in the allocation of funds to States and Territories.
Ms Follett went on to say that all programs have been required to make reductions. I found that a very interesting comment put next to the comment about the high priority of education. It seems clear to me that education in the ACT does not have a high priority, because it has been savagely targeted for cuts by Ms Follett's Government. We are looking at a $25m funding reduction to be phased in over four years, as Ms Follett said. Where is the four-year plan? Where is the long-term plan which has been identified by this Government to reduce funding by that level over four years? Who will be involved in that process? To what extent will parents, teachers, students and members of the community participate in that process? It seems to me that we have a very shallowly thought through solution from the Minister for Education and the Follett Government at the moment that 80 school based positions will be cut from the school system.
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