Page 1252 - Week 04 - Thursday, 21 April 1994
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The task of scheduling all of those matters and keeping the debate on track is something that we should never underestimate. In fact, we have seen what happens when it does not work, and there is a very marked difference when it does. So, congratulations to the Secretariat. I am very pleased that this particular task is over, Madam Speaker. It is one in which I claim no expertise. My view on electoral systems is that you try to win, no matter what it is, and that is what I will be doing under this system too.
Question resolved in the affirmative.
Bill agreed to in principle.
Leave granted to dispense with the detail stage.
Bill agreed to.
CANBERRA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY (AMENDMENT) BILL 1994
Debate resumed from 3 March 1994, on motion by Mr Wood:
That this Bill be agreed to in principle.
MR CORNWELL (7.46): Madam Speaker, the Liberal Party welcomes and therefore supports this legislation. The establishment of the Australian International Hotel School is an ambitious and exciting initiative that represents, to me at least, the sole original, practical example of this dithering Government's acceptance of an initiative to provide employment and a sense of purpose for young people here in the ACT. The concept of the hotel school is somewhat breathtaking. Please consider: A normally four-year course condensed to three years by the simple expedient of having three semesters per annum instead of only two; the course to result in a degree, unlike two other such schools in Australia, which offer only diplomas; a location in the historic Hotel Kurrajong, with live-in facilities for 120 students, that is, the entire first year of the course; linking with the prestigious 70-year-old School of Hotel Administration at Cornell University in the United States of America; and, finally, student numbers rising to 360 after three years.
As the Minister, Mr Wood, said in his tabling speech, the hotel school degree will "produce senior management level graduates, people with skills instantly usable in the working environment". It is as well that their skills should be instantly usable because the cost of the course is high - a $7,000 tuition fee per semester, plus accommodation. The question of finding enough people willing to pay such large fees should be a matter of concern to the most enthusiastic supporter. However, I understand that the proponents of the school believe that the numbers can be found, though not perhaps in the wished for ratio of one-third local, one-third national and one-third overseas. Indeed, many people are predicting that the bulk of students will come from overseas, specifically Asia, where the hotel industry is booming and there exists, and will for many years to come, a high demand for hotel school graduates.
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