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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1995 Week 7 Hansard (18 October) . . Page.. 1831 ..

MR STEFANIAK (continuing):

Mr De Domenico referred to a few things which Ms McRae mentioned, such as sporting equipment and its cost. I would like to touch on the social justice aspects she mentioned. I suppose it could be said that this is always a difficult question. I know that schools do what they can in relation to this. They try to help out. They will be able to help out a bit more under us because the emphasis on physical education and sport in schools will necessitate some schools getting some more sporting equipment. That will certainly help, at the school level, some of these disadvantaged kids.

Mr De Domenico was quite right when he said that it is a problem which is caused largely by such things as unemployment and the lack of opportunities. And where do these things come from? We have had a Federal Labor government in power now for nearly 13 years. Surely this needs to be rooted home where it should be, and that is fairly and squarely at the door of the Federal Labor Government. As Mr De Domenico also said, "What did your Government do, Ms McRae, in relation to this?". We are trying as best we can as a government to assist in terms of such things as unemployment by creating more opportunities for people in the ACT, but obviously Federal issues play a very big role. If the Federal Government is keen to get more people involved in recreation and sport it might reduce or get rid of the Federal tax on sporting equipment. That certainly would encourage more people to take up active lifestyles and particular sports, and that would obviously assist poorer members of our community. It is very much a Federal issue.

Ms McRae also said that health is very important. I think I can recall an earlier debate in which Ms McRae talked about her nutrition habits when she was 16 and 17. Perhaps mine are not exactly crash hot either. Health is important because it is not just sport and PE. I accept that, Ms McRae. In fact, this week, you will notice, is Health and PE Week. Health has been put in there for a very obvious reason. Such things as nutrition are important. We realise that. The physical education side is equally important. The physical education side is not necessarily just sport; it is more than just sport. The physical education side in our schools is improving, and I am not going into that in any more detail because that has been talked about on a number of occasions.

Mr Moore referred to packing down the scrum and suggested that maybe the scrum has gone a bit backwards. I do not think we even had a scrum to pack down until such time as this Government took over the reins here. The issue has been brought fairly and squarely into the public arena, with some very useful comments from all sides. That in itself is a very positive step. I hope that the end process will be more or less a bipartisan approach which will greatly assist that issue of PE and improving sport in our schools.

Ms McRae also mentioned, along with Mr Moore, the question of recreation. Before I come to that, Ms McRae also mentioned contracting out, as if they were terrible words. She is from the left faction and they certainly do not like words such as contracting out. What we are looking at really is making our operation more efficient, and obviously that is something that the Government has to do.

Ms McRae: Charging more. I know.

MR STEFANIAK: People pay at present.

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