Page 3022 - Week 10 - Wednesday, 17 October 2007
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The Breakthrough 500 Conference on Australian school-based apprenticeships was successfully run in May 2007, with the aim of creating 500 new apprenticeships in 2007. Through 2007, the ASBA reference group has continued to meet and monitor the progress towards this target. As part of the community engagement, ASBA OnLine was launched in 2007.
As part of a comprehensive approach to VET in secondary schooling, high school VET course development will involve colleges and, where appropriate, CIT representatives. High school teachers have been encouraged to engage in college course writing. College VET course development processes have been amended to align with mainstream course writing processes. A combined colleges VET forum has been established for VET coordinators from each of the government colleges to meet and share strategies and issues associated with training organisation registration. This enhances collaborative practice and understanding across colleges as recommended in the review’s text. In addition, Canberra businesses have been working with us on these matters.
It is clear that this government is committed to the ongoing renewal of our college system and is taking active steps to ensure that we maintain and improve the college system. I urge the minister to fully implement the ACT college business plan 2007-09 and I call on all Assembly members to support this motion.
MR SESELJA (Molonglo) (12.13): Firstly, I would like to flag that my colleague Vicki Dunne will be moving an amendment to this motion when she returns. In relation to the motion generally, it is an okay motion, I suppose, as far as it goes, but Mrs Dunne will be moving some substantive amendments that we believe will improve the motion. I will flag some of those in a moment.
The first thing I would say is this. Ms Porter touched on the words “ongoing renewal” of the college system in the territory. I believe that similar words were used by Mr Barr when he decided to rip the heart out of the ACT government education system.
When we talk about education in this place and when the Labor Party brings forward motions on education, we need to cast our minds back and go to the record of this government on education—the record of what it says and what it in fact does. We know that this government—the Labor Party—hates non-government schools. It does not support the non-government system; we have seen that at its conference.
We know that there is only one side of politics—the Liberal Party—that supports both government and non-government education. That is crystal clear. There is only one side of politics in this place that supports government education and non-government education. We know what those opposite think about non-government schools; we saw that at their conference. No doubt at the next conference the motion will be successful and we will see further de-funding of non-government schools by the ACT government.
The great betrayal came from this government in relation to government education. The Labor Party went to the last election promising not to close any schools. The
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