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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1998 Week 4 Hansard (24 June) . . Page.. 874 ..

MR BERRY (continuing):

It will impact on preschools. All that the Government can come up with - and Mr Moore, I might add - is that there has been no cut. There has been a cut. It is all right to rationalise the truth in such a way, but it still will not help the preschools much when they have the reduced funding put in place. Mr Speaker, that is all I have to say. I welcome the support of members for this motion. I particularly welcome the contribution to the debate of those members who did not talk about me but rather talked to the motion. I urge members to support the motion.

I am a little concerned about the amendment. My motion specifically referred to consideration of the report by this Assembly, but the amendments talk about a timeframe at a point where the committee has reported. I would rather have had a position where the Government should respond and the committee might consider the Government's response before any action was taken; but I can see that people have largely agreed. In particular, the chair of the Education Committee has agreed to a compromise date, so we will be quite relaxed about that.

Mr Speaker, some of the contribution to the debate from the benches opposite, I think, is worth referring to. Somebody muttered something about politics and seemed to complain that there might be politics played in a political chamber. Well, that is surprising. Were we not all surprised? Some of the issues which are raised in debate never cease to amaze me, but that is a good one. Complaining about politics in the ACT Legislative Assembly, or any other parliament for that matter, takes the cake in many ways.

I note that the Government's member on the Education Committee endorsed the committee's perusal of this issue. I think the Government therefore was locked into it from the outset. I have to say that it seems to me that the Government has been dragged kicking and screaming all the way to supporting this motion. It is a motion that nobody could oppose. It is a sensible motion about making sure that the community is able to make a contribution to the political process in this place which will, in the end, determine the future of our preschools and our education system. Economic rationalists might have a different view about the way preschools operate, how they should be funded, how they should be treated, and how the community, which after all owns the preschools and the education system, should be treated in the lead-up to decisions about our education system. This is a sensible motion and I welcome members' support for it. I am sure that it will bring a productive outcome to the debate.

Amendment (Ms Tucker's to Mr Osborne's proposed amendment) agreed to.

Amendment (Mr Osborne's, as amended) agreed to.

Motion, as amended, agreed to.

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