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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1996 Week 4 Hansard (18 April) . . Page.. 1049 ..

MR MOORE (continuing):

That the Government clearly establish as an entitlement for all schools, operational equipment essential to education, for example, photocopiers, and that such equipment be provided and maintained at public expense.

We are talking about simple photocopiers. How many of them are in office buildings throughout the Public Service? How many are here in the Assembly? They are essential pieces of equipment. What is this Minister's response? He says, "We put them in new schools". Whoop, whoop, Minister! Of course you put them in new schools. Are we going to accept the same thing for the Assembly? Are you saying that you put them in for the new Assembly and that is good enough? What do you take us for? The Public Accounts Committee went to a great deal of effort to make this recommendation to draw your attention to an inadequacy, and they get that sort of dismissive response. I think it is a most appalling thing.

Mr Hird, talking about photocopiers and the next recommendation, said, "The Government is doing a great job. We are doing a terrific job on information technology". Rather than just reading the speech, Mr Hird, you should have read the Public Accounts Committee report, which your colleague Mr Kaine rightly took out of the politics surrounding such things. He said, "These are real issues that need to be addressed". Then the Minister said, "Blow that. We do not need to address these issues. We will ignore them, because what we are doing in IT is okay. We cable new schools". Of course you cable new schools. Any new building nowadays is built with appropriate cabling for a whole range of things, and quite rightly so. The Minister also said, "Yes, we are cabling some of the colleges". That is my interpretation of what I remember reading.

Mr Stefaniak: All schools.

MR MOORE: The Minister says, "Eventually we are going to do all schools". The Public Accounts Committee is not saying, "Eventually get around to all schools". We are saying that there is an important need; that if we are going to educate our children, if we are going to do it to the best possible standards and if Canberra is going to be recognised as an education centre in Australia - - -

Mrs Carnell: You get the teachers to accept the salary offer we have given them and we might be able to afford it.

MR MOORE: We have an interjection from the Chief Minister, who in this Assembly stands there and says, "Yes, I know that teachers are underpaid". She said that in this Assembly. What does she offer them? She offers them 4 per cent a year. What does 4 per cent do? It just eases them ahead of the CPI.

MR SPEAKER: Order! Relevance, Mr Moore.

MR MOORE: It is relevant, Mr Speaker, because this Government is on about cutting into our whole education system and is not responding to real needs in the education community. It is time we recognised that morale is going to drop unless we give teachers

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