Page 4007 - Week 13 - Wednesday, 9 November 1994
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MS SZUTY: No; she does not say that. She continued:
however I am concerned that the majority report does not consider other funding options, including approaches to the federal government for increased funding in line with its increased pressure for all students to remain at school until the end of Year 12.
Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, the MACPE report is one of the most significant reports on education tabled in recent times. It has disappointed me from the two perspectives which I outlined earlier. Nevertheless, I look forward to hearing the Government's substantive response to the very significant issues raised by members of MACPE, which was set up by the Minister for Education and Training.
MR WOOD (Minister for Education and Training, Minister for the Arts and Heritage and Minister for the Environment, Land and Planning) (5.39), in reply: Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, I thank members for their contributions and, it seems to me, their general acceptance of the report - albeit with some niggling remarks. I will deal with one matter that both members raised. Ms Szuty said that she was concerned that there was a lack of consensus and that there was no shared vision. Mr Cornwell referred to the minority reports. I have to say that it is not surprising that there are minority reports, and that comes down to the nature of MACPE. It is a body that has, in part, ministerial appointees and, in part, appointees who are representatives of particular interest groups. I believe that, almost inevitably, when you get different parties representing different views, you are going to get minority reports. It is the nature of the body that has been established.
I could establish an alternative. I could establish a group of five, say - to take a number at random - or seven and set it up, with people broadly representative of the community but not representative of particular groups; and I would very likely get a unanimous report. Let us take the Vocational Training Authority, the state training authority that we are soon to set up. It is composed almost entirely of representatives of different groups. There is going to be a great deal of argument within that body. That is the nature of the group that I have established. If we do not want that argument, I can nominate five or seven people who would then advise me. It was a pretty attractive option, I have to say. The argument comes later; the argument comes when you try to convince the players in the field that they should accept this report. That argument is inevitable. It is really a matter of when it arises.
Both contributors made reference to various recommendations or aspects of the report. A couple of alarm bells ring in my head once again, because Mr Cornwell referred to paragraph 6.10 of the report and likened it to the Liberals' policy of per capita funding, which is actually the Liberals' policy of putting pressure on the smaller schools. We do not have any very small schools. It is the Liberals' policy of putting pressure on those small schools. It is Mr Humphries revisited. That concerns me. The discussion does talk about equity, and equity is important. One of the issues that Ms Szuty raised was that of equity. We do need to have regard to that. I hope that the Liberals are not going to go down this path of shutting off those small schools.
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