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Mr Stefaniak: We were always going to discuss it further, Roberta; you know that.

MS McRAE: You were always going to? Then why is a letter written saying that there will be 200 minutes a week? This is what is driving teachers mad. It is not that they want or do not want to do PE and sport; they all do. What is driving them mad is that we are getting a simplistic solution to a complicated problem.

Last week I walked into a school and found that one girl was being removed from her home because her father had battered her nearly to death; she was going out to foster parents. How is 100 minutes of PE going to help that child? Why is forcing her onto a sporting field going to help that child? That is the complexity of what we are dealing with in Years 9 and 10. How do we know why some kids will not participate? They have a range of serious problems they are encountering in those years, and putting through simplistic solutions will not help. We do not have compulsory anything else. There is no compulsion for a school to do 100 minutes of English, 300 minutes of science, 500 minutes of anything. The school works out its curriculum around eight key learning areas, and this is one of them. The schools have their own solution. The schools have their own way of dealing with those issues, and for a Minister to impose a simplistic solution that will not address the specific problems is outrageous.

To be fair, to get the endorsement today that this consultation is happening is exactly what I wanted. I never asked for a year's inquiry. I never asked for some long, complicated process. I never asked for anything to stall anything. I began my speech by saying that the Liberal policy was a good one and that people supported it. What I am angry about is that we do not know. I am fully allowed to be angry and I will continue to be.

MR SPEAKER: Order! It being 12.30 pm, the debate is interrupted in accordance with standing order 77.

Sitting suspended from 12.30 to 2.30 pm

DISTINGUISHED VISITORS

MR SPEAKER: I inform members of the presence in the gallery of Mr Peter Blackmore and Mr Peter Debnam from the New South Wales Parliament. Welcome.

QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE

Mrs Carnell: Mr Humphries will not be present for question time today, Mr Speaker. I will take questions on the environment, land and planning and emergency services, and Mr Stefaniak will take questions on the police and Attorney-General's.

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