Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . .

Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1996 Week 12 Hansard (19 November) . . Page.. 3770 ..

Mr Wood: It was 0.3 per cent.

MS McRAE: It was 0.3 per cent. Thank you. In that case, this recommendation was looking for the full picture of the marketable assets and liabilities of the Territory, to gain an idea of where the future direction might be. Mrs Carnell, you may choose to be a little disgruntled about this, but we can debate this further later.

Mrs Carnell: No; I am just interested. I just do not understand what a marketable liability is.

MS McRAE: As usual, Mrs Carnell, you have a bevy of 17,000 public servants. May I go on?

Mrs Carnell: They do not understand either.

MS McRAE: If they do not understand it, you may give up government today, Mrs Carnell. We can take over, and we can explain. This was a recommendation made in the best interests of the ACT. If Mrs Carnell chooses to ignore it, that is up to her.

The other recommendation, which again was made in the light of offering a new initiative which we felt would provide clearer direction for the management of the ACT, was recommendation 12. It asked the Government to provide a statement on its medium- and long-term strategies for superannuation, which will also include an analysis of emerging costs and an analysis of accrued unfunded liability. This is also of major importance. It is a debate that is not going to go away. We are all well aware that it is an area of emerging concern to the ACT. We do not have any idea of how many of our assets are potentially up for sale, and we have no idea about how big this emerging cost is and how we are likely to deal with it. In both instances, it is an invitation to the Government to offer some policy direction for discussion, debate and further perusal, so that all of us have a better idea of where we are going.

Finally, there were two recommendations in relation to the management of education in the ACT. The policy on preschool enrolments is a longstanding one; there is no question about that. It emerged this year that there are some issues around the management of the enrolments at preschool, and we have called for a review of that policy. However, consultation on education policies seems to be in need of complete reassessment. This, again, we are offering as a recommendation which is positive and perhaps a new initiative.

Serious concerns were raised about the reorganisations of the central office of the Department of Education, as these seemingly have been enacted without the thorough acceptance and understanding of teachers and the community. The twinning of the two colleges seems to have been sprung on the community. I am not questioning the Minister. He quite rightly stood up in the house and said, at the time we asked him, that the enrolments were sufficient in Stirling and that he was not anticipating a change;

Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . .