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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2004 Week 07 Hansard (Wednesday, 30 June 2004) . . Page.. 3092 ..

MS DUNDAS: I did not suggest that you did not say that, Mr Pratt. I am stating that this school, which is an example of the ACT government education system, is teaching respect and tolerance. It is promoting an understanding of the different cultures in our community. I am disappointed that Mr Pratt moved this motion when it is obvious that ACT government schools are imparting those values to students. If some of our students go through difficult times and they are suspended it does not mean that values are not being taught in our schools.

ACT schools participate in a number of programs and events that broaden students’ experiences and understanding, for example, NAIDOC Week, Down Syndrome Awareness Week, Red Nose Day, World Refugee Day, health and other themes week, to name just a few. All those events attach positive values such as openness, being willing to listen and to learn different things, caring for others, looking after oneself and using courage to look after others. The only thing that is wrong in our schools at the moment is that they are not being funded by the federal and ACT governments to support all their students holistically.

If the Liberal opposition wants values it has only to look to its federal colleagues to see how they are doing their best to instil values of elitism and inequality in our students by spending money on non-government schools at a much higher rate than they are spending money on government schools. The values of elitism and inequality have no place in our schools or anywhere else. What will a flagpole teach our students about values? Mr Pratt has not answered that question. Mr Pratt referred also to statistics that show the number of students in the ACT who are moving to the non-government school sector.

One of the reasons why parents are moving students to non-government schools is that they are continually being fed a myth, in particular, by the Liberal opposition, that government schools do not teach values and that they will not protect and support our students and enable them to grow into valuable members of the community. We know that that is not true. Only this week, students and the chair of the Student Network visited the Assembly. I know that Mr Pratt had an opportunity to meet the chair, as did many other members—a young man who has been through the public school system, who has been taught well, who has drive and determination, who has respect for others and who is willing to impart and share that knowledge with others, which is to be valued.

Other students from schools that are supported through the schools as community project had an amazing understanding of the world around them. They were willing to share their knowledge. They wanted to learn and to grow in a respectful way. I thought it was valuable to be hearing those things from young people in our community. We can always do more to improve education and educational outcomes. We can increase the amount of pay that we give to teachers and we can stop demonising our schools and our teachers. We can employ support staff and give schools better resources. We can put in place better programs to support at-risk students and make schools more disability friendly.

Those are the things that we should be doing. We should not criticise our schools because they are no longer adhering to an outdated or obsolete value system—a system that was not clearly articulated by the opposition when moving this motion. The values being taught by government schools at the moment include working with others, caring for others, learning about the community, learning about our history and being able to

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