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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1996 Week 4 Hansard (18 April) . . Page.. 1065 ..

MR STEFANIAK (continuing):

Mr Moore, who talked about 10 to 15 years of constantly declining funds in education, was talking about constantly declining funds in education under Labor administrations. No wonder you are touchy about that one! Whichever way you want to portray the 1995-96 education budget, there is one simple, fundamental mathematical fact. We have put more money in, $206.3m, than any other budget since self-government. Also, when you look at the outyears, 1996-97 and 1997-98, that funding increases in line with the CPI. Again, it is there in black and white. You have those documentations. Again, it is a mathematical fact. I think you are being a little cute here, Ms McRae, in some of the comments you are making.

Just because you do not like a report is not a reason to send it back. We are all in the political game. I suppose that we are all about making political points. All you will be doing is saying, "Look, aren't we great?" - you happen to have the numbers on this one - "We do not like it. We are sending it back. It says a few things that we do not want it to say. We would prefer it to be done differently". Would you like to write it yourself?

Ms McRae: Yes, Mr Stefaniak, any day. Resign. I will take over any day.

MR STEFANIAK: Yes, indeed, you would; yes, I bet you would. Would you like to write it yourself? The fact is that we went to the election on a platform that we would be a financially responsible government.

I have made my points - and it is in the Government's response - about what we are putting into education. It is on the public record. I reiterate: It is a mathematical fact that it is more than has been spent before.

Ms McRae: It is not the point.

MR STEFANIAK: It is the point, I think, Ms McRae; it is the point very much that there are things in this response that you simply do not like. You are trying to make cheap political capital out of it. There are a lot of responses here which certainly, contrary to what you say, address the issue. Have a look at the response to recommendation 11, for example, in terms of Commonwealth funding for disadvantaged schools. Yes, we are going to review the criteria. We have a new Commonwealth Government, too, which might free that up a little as well. If that is not addressing that particular issue, I do not know what is. That is certainly going to assist the disadvantaged schools in our Territory.

This is absolutely unbelievable and a rather cheap shot by Mr Moore, who certainly has a passion for education. Maybe sometimes that passion - - -

Mr Moore: That passion is consistent.

MR STEFANIAK: Well, it is consistent; I suppose that it is consistent. I suppose that one can expect something like this from him, even though I think he has gone completely over the top here. I will come to one other little point in relation to that at the end.

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