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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1999 Week 2 Hansard (9 March) . . Page.. 414 ..

MR STEFANIAK

In a similar vein, there was debate in this place last year about preschool places. Whilst the Government did not accept the Auditor-General's position that preschools should be closed because of the value of the real estate, we cannot disregard the issue completely. Some preschool sites are being maintained at the expense of the educational needs of our community. Yes, there is a question of access, but at what cost to the taxpayers of the ACT? We have had the Grants Commission figures out recently showing areas where we do overspend. Similarly for the CIT. Whilst there is some debate as to exactly what the figures are, it is quite clear that we spend much more than a number of States, and I would think that there are certainly ways we can do that better.

We have in the ACT an outstanding system for looking after children with disabilities that is the envy of other States. In fact, there is anecdotal evidence, Mr Speaker, that indicates that some children with problems such as autism are actually attracted to the ACT because of the quality of the support services we provide. I think we can be justly proud of this reputation. I have every intention of ensuring that we maintain our lead in this difficult area. That is a service for which there is a need, but it is expensive. As we discuss this important issue, we need to remember that the ACT boasts that it has one of the best education systems in Australia, and rightly so. In fact, we boast that we have the best education system. I am glad that the Commonwealth Grants Commission has finally acknowledged that the extraordinarily high retention rates for our college system do have a budgetary impact. That was long overdue. However, we must ask ourselves whether we have a system which is all that much better than the other States when we spend millions of dollars more than those States. The Productivity Commission estimates that we spend about $1,000 more per student across the system than the rest of Australia, with the exception of the Northern Territory. Is our performance or the quality of the outcome for our students that much better?

Let us look at some of the other elements of the education area. In sport we have the highest per capita participation rate in the country, at 63.6 per cent, having overtaken the Northern Territory about two years ago - I might add, much to the chagrin of my Northern Territory colleague. I am very proud of that fact. However, it does not come cheaply or without considerable support from the Government. We have some wonderful facilities here, some of which are world class. Now that we are an Olympic city for the 2000 Games, we have to have suitable facilities. Bruce Stadium, which had such a wonderful debut in its new guise last Friday night, is a credit to the ACT.

We have superb ovals, such as Manuka Oval; Olympic standard rowing facilities on Lake Burley Griffin; the swimming facilities at Tuggeranong and the AIS; tennis facilities such as the clay court development at Lyneham; and the new international hockey facilities which the Government announced in its draft capital works program a few weeks ago. Canberrans are justly proud of their sporting prowess and take pride in their national teams, such as the Cannons, the Raiders, the Brumbies, the Cosmos, the Eclipse, the Strikers and the Lakers, and in many other teams and individual sport stars. We had a large representation in the 1996 Olympic team, with 19 individual team members from the ACT and district.

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