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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 5 Hansard (13 May) . . Page.. 1242 ..

MR STEFANIAK (continuing):

there are a number of safety nets in place, including help stations for any school which needs assistance there. That is something she conveniently forgets. This Government has not only maintained funding in real terms this year - that is, 1.75 per cent - but actually the education budget is about 3 per cent above what it was last year. I think that is a considerable achievement for this Government in very difficult economic times. Despite what Ms McRae says, there are a number of groups out there in the education community which are quite happy with the effort this Government has made, quite contrary to a number of other governments around the country, in maintaining educational expenditure in real terms. In the difficult economic situation we have found ourselves in since we took over, especially when we found that the cupboard was bare, it is a quite considerable achievement.

As well, just talking about education: Ms McRae made some comments about sport in schools. This was not in this budget but in the previous one, Ms McRae: When the Government's sports policy was introduced - and I make absolutely no apologies for that; it was long overdue and needed and, I think, has gone down very well - we actually did provide some $30,000 for extra equipment for schools. Programs were developed, too, to include the stress which might be caused to all. I just point that out to Ms McRae.

In this budget this year, Mr Speaker, as well as maintaining education funding in real terms, we have a number of other initiatives. I think one of the foremost is the literacy and numeracy initiative - an additional $400,000 to enable us to extend literacy testing to high schools and to introduce numeracy testing in primary and high schools. That is something that I think all parents are very keen to see. I was absolutely delighted by our initial successes in literacy testing for Years 3 and 5, when only 10 parents in all in both of those age groups opted out - four in Year 3; six, I think, in Year 5. That is a pretty good result when you realise that there are about 3,000 students in each of those years. That is something that I think is long overdue, a major initiative and something the Government should be commended for.

Obviously, there are some other additional expenditures, including an amount to complete Nicholls High so that it can start in the first term in 1998. There are some other initiatives that many people have been after for many years, because not all of our children go on to university; many go into other streams. Vocational education and training is increasing in importance in terms of providing students with other options. We are expanding that in our senior secondary schools, in cooperation with the Commonwealth. That is very important, Mr Speaker, because already we have a number of courses running where kids can not only learn some vocational educational skills at school but also have them accredited and carry them on into TAFE. I think there is a building and construction course where the people actually running that are even guaranteeing jobs at the end of the line. That, I think, is an excellent initiative; and it is terribly important that students, in the senior years of high school, have the ability to learn subjects other than academic subjects so that they can take those skills into their later life and perhaps get a job as a result.

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