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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2000 Week 6 Hansard (24 May) . . Page.. 1648 ..

MR KAINE (continuing):

up to later scrutiny as actually proving what the proponents want it to prove. If it does not do it in a logical, rational way, the outcomes are always going to be questioned by those of us like myself who are still not convinced that the trial is necessary. I think it was Mr Wood who said, "I do not support it but it is now inevitable and I want to make sure that it is done properly."

Finally, the minister has undertaken to bring details to the Assembly, which was one of the things that I wanted to have done. I look forward to receiving the details as they come due and, more importantly, the opportunity to debate any of those details which I or others may see to be controversial in some way. Mr Quinlan raised a fair point: there will be a continuing interest in this trial on the part of members of this place and of the general public and the notion of periodic, progressive reporting is a good one. I do not know whether the minister intended to do that, but it is a point that he should take up.

There will be continuing interest in this place because at the end of the day, as I said, the minister and the government will be held responsible. But to the community out there the government means us, all of us. At the end of the day, we are all going to be held accountable for the result, whether we support the trial or not; so, keeping ourselves informed, firstly, on how it is going and keeping the public informed is necessary. Beyond that, I expected that there would be general support for the motion because I thought it was eminently logical and I did not expect anybody to get up and say that they do not support it. Nevertheless, I thank members for their support for this motion and, as I say, I look forward to continuing cooperation from the minister on this issue.

Question resolved in the affirmative.

MR BERRY (12.16): I move:

This motion, if it were not for other business taking precedence, would have been considered at the last private members business sitting of the Assembly. However, it is fortuitous that on this occasion I am able to discuss it in the wake of the recent budget. I will start there because it points to the reason for this sort of motion and the need for us to consider it at an early date.

Here I am waving two budget papers around, Budget Paper No 3 and Budget Paper No 4, and searching for moves by the ACT government to deal with indigenous education. My office has conducted an electronic search and has been unable to turn up anything additional in Budget Paper No 3. We did find on page 239 of Budget Paper No 4

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