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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2000 Week 4 Hansard (28 March) . . Page.. 927 ..

MR MOORE: Mr Berry asks me to find him a teacher who believes me. Yes, you have run a fantastic campaign of misinformation. I have not missed that. Mr Berry, I have to tell you that it is incredibly frustrating to have those lies - wherever they come from, not necessarily from you - going through the education system because the reality is and the truth is that school funding has increased in real terms every single year. It has not been cut. To be accused of breaking my promise is incredibly frustrating for me because the reality is that people ought to be grateful for what I have done. But that is not politics.

Mr Berry: No, it is the truth.

MR MOORE: I understand the politics that you play, Mr Berry, but I expect Ms Tucker, in particular, to look very carefully at that report. I know that she will look at the facts in front of her and understand that we have actually delivered on our promise. I have delivered on my promise. It has been verified by KPMG that I have delivered on my promise, as I have always believed. I have the verification of that now and Mr Berry's constant carping will not change anything.

MR STEFANIAK (Minister for Education) (11.28): I will elaborate on a couple of the points Mr Berry made by referring to the KPMG report because it is very important to do so. I just heard Mr Berry say, "It is the truth", in relation to the myth about the Government cutting school funding. Are we to believe KPMG or Mr Berry?

Mr Hird: The umpire.

MR STEFANIAK: Are we to believe Wayne Berry or the umpire? I know whom I would rather believe and I know whom the community would rather believe, too.

Mr Moore: And the evidence.

MR STEFANIAK: I will come to the basic evidence shortly. Firstly, I want to make a couple of comments on the terms of reference for the committee. I am interested in seeing what other committees have done in this whole process and whether anyone has come up with some sensible suggestions about moving moneys around within the global limits of each portfolio. I can remember spending about half an hour on that when I made some opening comments to the committee. The whole point of this exercise was to involve the committee and groups in the community more in the budget process. The revolutionary step of putting a draft budget on the table was a means of involving more people. It was completely consistent with having more open government. It is something that no-one else in Australia has done. I would hope that at some stage today we will see some of the committees actually making some suggestions.

I have not had a close look at this report. There may be some very good suggestions in it for the Government to look at quite seriously. I have to study the report in detail. I have had a flip through it and there are a few things in it that I do not agree with in looking at them superficially. But, to give some credence to it, we will look at the report in detail and respond during the budget process. I think that it is very important in this process for committees to make some suggestions as to how the Government can improve this

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