Page 1884 - Week 07 - Wednesday, 22 August 2007
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MR DEPUTY SPEAKER: Do you seek to make a personal explanation under standing order 46, Mr Barr?
MR BARR: I do.
MR DEPUTY SPEAKER: You have it, Mr Barr.
MR BARR: Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. The government has been actively implementing the recommendations of that review for some time. For Mrs Dunne to make the allegation that we have done nothing is incorrect and misrepresents the government’s position and my position. However, I believe we need a substantive debate on this issue, and I encourage Mrs Dunne to move a motion next week.
MR DEPUTY SPEAKER: Before we have a game of tennis here, I remind you both that explanations only are required, not further debates, unless you seek leave to carry on with debates.
MS MacDONALD (Brindabella) (5.13): I thank members for their contributions. Mrs Dunne has a tactic. Any time we raise an issue she says, “Well, you know, the Labor government.” Her comment about my motion and speech was, “Here again we see the Labor government attacking the federal government for the sake of attacking the federal government.” Well, that is not what this motion is about.
Mrs Dunne: It is.
MS MacDONALD: No, Mrs Dunne. That is not what this motion is about. This motion is in response to the suggestion that we should change the continuous assessment system. The federal minister has not approached this process in a spirit of cooperation. Instead she has approached it with a big stick.
Mr Barr: The biggest bully in education!
MS MacDONALD: Yes. It is the stick called: “If you don’t play the game the way I want to, then you’re not going to get any money.”
Mrs Dunne: It is the only way we have ever got any progress on a national curriculum.
MS MacDONALD: Mrs Dunne, you had your opportunity to speak.
MR DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! I ask speakers on both sides of the chamber to address their comments through the chair.
MS MacDONALD: And Ms MacDonald has the floor.
MR DEPUTY SPEAKER: Ms MacDonald, I will make the determinations, thank you. Ms MacDonald, you have the floor.
MS MacDONALD: Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. In my speech I talked about the excellent system that we have here in the ACT, and the minister pointed out that
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