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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1996 Week 9 Hansard (27 August) . . Page.. 2585 ..

MR HUMPHRIES (continuing):

These are minor amendments to deal with a flaw, which I think was picked up by the Scrutiny of Bills Committee, concerning some misnumbering of sections referring to provisions that call for some carryover of the provisions in the present legislation to the new arrangements. They are very minor, and I commend them to the Assembly.

Amendments agreed to.

Bill, as a whole, as amended, agreed to.

Bill, as amended, agreed to.

MS TUCKER: I seek leave to make a personal explanation under standing order 47.

MR SPEAKER: Proceed.

MS TUCKER: Thank you. During Mr Humphries's response just then he referred to me as "the leader of the Greens". I do not know whether I missed the word "proposed" because I was speaking to Mr Stefaniak. I understand that the consultant's report on staff allocations has suggested that I be called the leader of the Greens, and that Mrs Carnell will inform me of this, but she has not told me so. So at this point I am not speaking in the capacity of leader of the Greens.

Debate resumed from 23 May 1996, on motion by Mr Stefaniak:

That the Assembly takes note of the paper.

MS McRAE (11.44): Mr Speaker, if Mr Stefaniak thinks that this is going to allay anyone's fears about literacy and numeracy in our schools, then I think he is sadly mistaken. His statement is disingenuous and even a little sad. What we are talking about in this statement is three tests - two at the primary school level and one at the high school level - to be done in 1997 and in 1998. I find the claims made in this paper about the effects of these three tests on literacy and numeracy in our schools to be a little staggering. It is sad if the Minister believes that this is going to make any difference to literacy and numeracy in our schools. To be fair, the Minister said in his statement that this is not the answer to everything, but subsequently he has proceeded to make a whole series of claims that I think are untenable and do not really offer any solution to the very serious issues that face some of our children - not many - in our schools. I would like to go through some of those issues and some of my criticisms.

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