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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2001 Week 7 Hansard (20 June) . . Page.. 2174 ..
MR STEFANIAK (continuing):
a comprehensive list of new and expanded initiatives for students at risk;
new initiatives in the early intervention areas;
family support initiatives for adolescents, youth connections and indigenous youth;
programs of support for youth carers and learning for life;
and further per capita and specific purpose funding for the non-government sector, and additional subsidy scheme expenditure
We are providing approximately $91 million extra.
Mr Stanhope: That is $27 million less than the Labor Party will spend on education.
MR SPEAKER: Mr Stanhope, are you training to be a parrot, by any chance? I suggest you be quiet. I cannot hear Mr Stefaniak.
Mr Kaine: I take a point of order, Mr Speaker. Was that comment about Mr Stanhope parliamentary?
MR SPEAKER: I am certainly sick and tired of constant interjections.
MR STEFANIAK: As I was saying before the interruption, we are providing some $91 million extra over four years for education, $40 million of which is for new and additional programs.
Ms Tucker said this morning that no-one asked for a free bus program. That was a promise we were elected on. No-one asked us for the K 2 initiative either, but people were happy when it came in. It is something that educationalists have been saying for a long time is desirable. The K 2 initiative shows exactly what you can do when you get the budget in order and can deliver on something as important as education. That is something I fear the lot opposite would never be able to appreciate.
2008 Olympic Games
MS TUCKER: My question to the Chief Minister relates to the ACT government's support for Beijing's bid for the 2008 Olympic Games. I note in the Sydney Morning Herald of 21 February an article about the atmosphere in Beijing as it busied itself about presenting well for the International Olympic Committee meeting. I quote:
Beijing is like a nervous debutante this week as it tries to convince 17 people-and through them the Olympic movement-that it should host the 2008 Games.
As members of the International Olympic Committee's evaluation commission arrived yesterday they were whisked into the centre of the city along boulevards beside which the brown winter grass had been spray-painted green.
Mr Hargreaves: Is that the result of your trip?
MS TUCKER: It is a photograph of the workers painting the grass green along the roadside. Considering that the ACT government also has dabbled with green paint and grass for Olympic venues, is painting grass green the particular expertise that the ACT government has offered Beijing in support of its Olympic bid?
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