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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2000 Week 7 Hansard (28 June) . . Page.. 2182 ..
MS CARNELL
(continuing):job. It is wonderful to work with such capable and directional people, and it is wonderful to see our public service go from strength to strength. It is also wonderful to have a central agency that is so focused on service delivery.
Debate (on motion by Mr Moore ) adjourned.
That the Assembly do now adjourn.
MR BERRY
(5.22): Today, Mr Temporary Deputy Speaker, we learnt of another budget muck-up and a mistake. I am not sure whether we will get a corrigendum out of it but there was a plan by this government to cut staff at two schools which provide services for students with disabilities. Happily, the government has reversed that plan. Because staff had been told that the proposal was going ahead, they were quite distraught about the extra load that was going to go on to teachers and teachers aids, and about the quality of care that was to be handed out to students with disabilities.I learnt, first of all, about the plan to cut these staff, and I later learnt of the office of the Chief Minister saying that it would not now go ahead. The minister today has confirmed that. I have to say that that is good news for the families of students with disabilities, for students with disabilities and for the staff who have to provide services to these people.
What this does tell us all, Mr Temporary Deputy Speaker, is how the so-called building social capital slogan is unravelling. At first, while ever the community was quiet about the issue, the government was prepared to cut staff and impact on these students with disabilities. That was the case until there was an outcry about it, until there were complaints received by the Chief Minister and until the warning bells rang.
No government could sustain an argument to reduce staffing in these areas out in the community. The community would have been enraged. At least, as a result of this parliamentary process, the community will learn that it was the government's intention to do it, despite their slogan and their claim to be building a social capital. It is a happy result for people in those schools, but not because of the actions of this government. The government was frightened off by a strong voice from the community.
MR SMYTH (Minister for Urban Services) (5.25): I am very pleased that Mr Berry raised the issue of social capital because what we have seen in Canberra over the last three days is a wonderful example of the way this government works across portfolios to make Canberra a better place to live for all of us. Mr Moore has been convening a conference that has seen Canberra proclaimed a healthy city. We had a dinner on Monday night with the delegates and they were very pleased that it was not being left just in the health portfolio, but that the other portfolios, under Mr Humphries, the Chief
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