Page 794 - Week 03 - Wednesday, 9 March 2005
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To answer the little question of the dickybird across the chamber: yes, a press release was put out; yes, it was in the newspaper; and no, I did not see any member of the opposition at the time the grants were given out. The school associations are doing a terrific job with the money that we have given them.
MS PORTER: I have a supplementary question. Can the minister please give the Assembly some examples of how the grants will be used?
MR HARGREAVES: In support of the language schools enjoying a strong level of technology, the ACT government has offered financial assistance to members of the Ethnic Schools Association to acquire IT equipment through the multicultural community languages grants program. That is just one of them.
On the day I announced the names of the recipients of the language grants I was able to launch the ACT Ethnic Schools Association’s new web site, which has been developed with funding from the ACT government. The new site enables the association and all its member schools to publicise the great work they are doing in teaching languages and cultural traditions.
Mrs Dunne: Mr Speaker, I take a point of order. Mr Hargreaves was asked a question about the things the grants that he announced last weekend would cover and he went on to talk about funding from an undisclosed ACT government source for a web page that he launched that day. Obviously, that money is not coming out of this year’s grants. Therefore, it is not to the point of the question and he should keep to the point of the question, which was about what this year’s funding is going to do.
MR SPEAKER: The question really was about whether the minister can give some examples.
MR HARGREAVES: For the benefit of Mrs Dunne, who is in a time warp, the question was about how the grants will be used.
MR SPEAKER: No, it was not. It was whether the minister can give some examples. We are waiting for them.
MR HARGREAVES: Mr Speaker, I am trying desperately to give Ms Porter some examples. I urge those people who have not seen it to look at the Ethnic Schools Association’s new web site, because it actually says how people can access those community language programs that we are funding under the multicultural community languages grants program. Joseph Yoon and his associates are to be congratulated for developing the web site. That web site, as I have mentioned before, is how you can access these community language programs. If you want to go and learn another language, Mr Speaker, you can access that web site and it will show you where to go. The programs by which you will learn those languages are funded out of the community language grants.
Of the successful recipients of grants this year, five schools received assistance to purchase computers. These included the Grace Chinese School, the Samoan Language
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