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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2003 Week 5 Hansard (8 May) . . Page.. 1778 ..

MS GALLAGHER: Ms Lyndsay Connors presented her report on the inquiry into ACT education funding to me on 14 February 2003. I publicly released the report on the same day and subsequently consulted with stakeholders.

With the commissioning of this inquiry in early 2002, the government honoured an important election commitment. As well as being an election commitment, it was important that the inquiry be undertaken. ACT funding of school education is a large part of the ACT budget-around 25 per cent. It is a long time since there was a complete review of education funding arrangements-certainly not since self-government.

The last review, which was only a partial one of the non-government schools sector, was in 1991. By any measure, ACT schools compare well with schools in other jurisdictions, and the ACT community can be justifiably proud of its schools and their achievements. However, that is no reason to be complacent. Public funding is finite and it is incumbent on a government to ensure that the distribution of public funding available for education is soundly based on principles of equity and relative need. The government, while in opposition, judged that it was time to review education funding arrangements, to ensure that the principles of equity and relative need remained paramount.

Mr Speaker, Ms Connors has clearly undertaken this inquiry in a consultative way. In her report, Ms Connors paid tribute to the enthusiasm and commitment shown by those in the ACT community who participated so willingly in this inquiry. She drew particular attention to the fact that many of the participants did so on a voluntary basis.

The government expresses its utmost appreciation to all the organisations and individuals which participated in this important inquiry. In her report, Ms Connors commented that the level of participation bears witness to the public spirit of the ACT community, and to their commitment to maintaining and advancing the ACT schools system. The government wholeheartedly agrees.

There are 16 recommendations in the Connors report and the government accepts all but one. The recommendation the government does not accept involves the development of an interim new funding arrangement for non-government schools, based on an assessment of the total revenue available to individual schools.

In deciding not to accept this recommendation, the government considered carefully the reasoning behind another Connors report recommendation-the one about not pursuing a permanent new funding arrangement for non-government schools, in view of the national work being carried out by the Ministerial Council for Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs.

The government accepts the recommendation about a new permanent funding arrangement. For the same reason, the government has decided not to accept the recommendation to establish an interim funding arrangement for non-government schools. The government is not persuaded of the merits of undertaking, at this time, the very substantial work necessary to develop an interim model based on revenue assessments while the national work is in progress.

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