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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1995 Week 9 Hansard (23 November) . . Page.. 2518 ..

MR STEFANIAK (continuing):

What we are about is a planned approach to educational services in the future within this Territory's financial constraints, which simply cannot be ignored. To pretend that there were no such constraints or to pretend that education could be completely quarantined from such constraints is simply not responsible. I consider that what we have put forward is realistic, it is achievable and it will protect our schools both this year and into the future.

(Extension of time granted) On page 4153, Mr Connolly spoke of, among other things, a 4 per cent increase in education in that particular budget. He is criticising Mr Moore here, when he says in the second paragraph:

Mr Moore criticises slicing fritz, continuing to spend less money every year. He said that the Labor Government should not slavishly follow the advice of bean counters; they should prioritise and they should treat education as they treat some other areas and have some marginal increases in expenditure. Madam Speaker, it is a pity that before Mr Moore wrote that speech he did not actually do a little bit of homework. When you look at what we are debating, which is the budget, and when you look at what the budget shows for expenditure, you find that the Government has done exactly what Mr Moore urged it to do. We have not sliced the piece of fritz on the education budget, Mr Moore. We have in fact shoved a bit of fritz on. The recurrent expenditure for government schooling last year was some $195,072,000. This year, in Mr Wood's so-called slash and burn budget that is slavishly following bean counting advice to reduce expenditure, it is $203,569,000. Madam Speaker, the rhetoric from Mr Moore displays a fundamental lack of basic research.

While across the board we have sought to reduce expenditure by about 2 per cent, there have been some programs that have taken some dramatic cuts. I point to my programs of city services, where we have been constantly striving for reform and I think have hit the jackpot with a 19 per cent saving; public transport, with a 4 per cent saving ...

He goes on to a few others there. In the next paragraph he says:

Mr Moore said, "You, Labor Government, should show your commitment to your priorities and you should deal with education as you have dealt with health. You should perhaps find a little bit more". Mr Moore did not read his budget papers, because what we have done is in fact to increase recurrent expenditure on public education by 4 per cent and on non-government schooling by some $3m, or almost 5 per cent.

He goes on:

Madam Speaker, this talk of cutting and slashing and reducing expenditure in education is - - -

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