Page 2566 - Week 08 - Wednesday, 23 August 2006
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The ACT system has had many innovations. The college system innovation, which has served us so well, came in after about three or four years of detailed work, starting in 1976. Strangely enough, the draconian step taken by the government in relation to the 2020 document does at least highlight that we are at the crossroads with our education system. The need for an inquiry is certainly timely when you take into account what is proposed and also what has happened in our system in the last 30 years. A wide-ranging inquiry would serve us well in determining what will happen over the next, I would suggest, 25 years or more.
Mr Deputy Speaker, I know there are members of the government who value education. They showed at the Labor Party conference that they do not agree with the government’s Towards 2020 approach. Frankly, my motion presents the government with an opportunity to bale out of its current approach with dignity—indeed, there needs to be some consistency with prior Labor Party policies—and stop community anxiety about their children’s schooling and future. It gives them an opportunity to enable all persons in the community with concern for education to make representations and be heard at this inquiry. I am speaking about not only parents and people within the education sector but also people in business, the universities and the non-government sector—anyone with an interest in this most crucial area. This is a matter of great concern for so many Canberrans right across the board—not just the parents of children who attend schools slated for closure—who take pride in our system and take pride in the value of education.
This is a crucial matter. People are our greatest resource in Canberra, and a good, strong education system is the best way of ensuring that this territory can continue to go ahead. We need to be smart about this, and this inquiry would give everyone a chance to contribute. I urge all members to vote to establish this inquiry. Sadly, I doubt very much that that is going to happen but certainly people should have the chance to stop and consider the need to proceed properly with change.
No-one denies that there may well be a need for some schools to amalgamate or close. This 18-month process would give everyone the chance to go through that in a thorough way and look at all issues in relation to ACT education. I think there is great support in the community for a sensible approach like this. People realise and know that the student population of some schools has been declining over the years. People also realise that in some areas student numbers have increased. This inquiry will enable any change to be done properly, not in the half-baked way that has occurred since 6 June. I commend this motion to the Assembly.
MR STANHOPE (Ginninderra—Chief Minister, Treasurer, Minister for Business and Economic Development, Minister for Indigenous Affairs and Minister for the Arts) (16.29): Mr Deputy Speaker, the government will oppose this motion. Indeed, this is the second stunt of the day in relation to education and, of course, 2020. It is not all that common that we have to deal with two stunt motions on the same subject on the one day. We opposed and dealt with the stunt this morning and we will oppose and deal with this stunt this afternoon. While the opposition might tell us that its call for an inquiry into the ACT education system is motivated by a desire to ensure that Canberrans continue to have access to a world-class education, it is simply another stunt—another ill-conceived, deliberate attempt to delay any action to implement the government’s Towards 2020 proposal. In doing that, they do the Canberra community a great disservice.
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