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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2001 Week 7 Hansard (20 June) . . Page.. 2209 ..

MR BERRY: We heard some analysis of the figures which have been prepared by the government in relation to the kids who will miss out and the kids who will not miss out. Mr Smyth misquoted me by saying that I had said that this was only for private schools. What I actually said was that 75 per cent of children in our schools will miss out from the $27 million electoral sweetener. Only 7,000 of the 40,000 government school students will have access to this. Sixty per cent of kids in the non-government sector will also miss out. If you have a look at the figures collected from primary schools, you will find that 90 per cent of kids in primary schools will miss out. They are not going to get anything out of this initiative. That is where we stand poles apart. That is what I want to hear Mr Rugendyke and Mr Osborne explain. (Extension of time granted.)

I would be interested in how Mr Osborne and Mr Rugendyke will ever explain how they have abandoned 75 per cent of the kids in schools. They have missed an opportunity to provide them with some support, given their support for Labor's position. Their pathetic, weak, insincere position here compared their last attempt at upsetting a budget does not wash. It will never wash anywhere, and everybody knows it. Even they know it. Thrashing around as they have a couple of times tonight will not help them much either. It just digs the hole deeper. It is up to them to find their way out of the mire. The fact of the matter is that they are being extraordinarily weak in relation to this matter.

Mr Rugendyke went through the motions of conducting a survey of all the schools in Ginninderra, with the approval of the government, so that he could prepare a report and present it to government. As you would expect at this time of the electoral cycle, one would be entitled to promote one's interest in education as a result of that. I agree. He is entitled to promote his interest in education as a result. He is entitled to come to the conclusion that the $27 million bus scheme is dumb.

He is entitled to come to the conclusion that the money ought to be spent in other ways. But you would like to see a little bit of guts to make sure that it does happen. I think all of his work to demonstrate that he was interested in schools, especially government schools, in the ACT has gone to waste, because nobody will ever believe a word he says on education again, for good reason.

For Mr Osborne to continue to say that he thinks this is bad and do nothing about it demonstrates a lack of courage of his stated convictions.

Mr Smyth dared Labor to say what it would do about this issue after the election should we occupy the benches opposite. I may be paraphrasing him, but that is essentially what I think he meant. We have said that, as a priority, we will reallocate any money left over and put it into schools. That is our position. We will move for the reallocation of the free school bus funds to education in a shared arrangement between the government and non-government sectors. These funds will be used on a needs basis for priority programs as reduced classes in K to 3 years and on support services for the students up to year 12, together with any additional class size reductions which are achievable and appropriate. We will immediately move for the introduction of a single-zone school bus fare system.

Mr Humphries: We are doing it already.

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