Page 3936 - Week 13 - Wednesday, 5 December 2007
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system-wide, government-wide, changes and systemic reforms across all portfolios that were undertaken in 2006-07. Frankly, if those reforms had not resulted in a turnaround in the territory’s financial situation, we would have reason for concern. But the entire point of undertaking all of the reforms across all of the portfolios was to achieve a change in the territory’s financial situation. Frankly, for those opposite to suggest that if we had undertaken those reforms and we are still in deficit—
Opposition members interjecting—
MR BARR: That was the whole point: to restore the territory’s financial position, to make the difficult decisions, to make the structural reforms that were necessary to ensure the more efficient delivery of services and to ensure—
Mrs Dunne: Keep trying. Nobody believes you, not even you.
MR BARR: This is an unbelievable position. Are you seriously suggesting that we should have undertaken the reforms—
Opposition members interjecting—
MR DEPUTY SPEAKER: Mr Barr, resume your chair. Mrs Dunne, Mr Smyth and Mr Seselja, who is going out in sympathy with his colleagues—order!
MR BARR: Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. For those opposite to suggest that undertaking these reforms and still leaving the territory in deficit—if that was their suggestion of a good outcome, it is unbelievable. Of course, that was the entire point of undertaking these reforms across all portfolios—to address the fundamental imbalance between the territory’s expenditures and revenues to ensure that the financial situation of the territory was improved.
And why would you do that? So that you can reinvest in the quality of your service provision—and in the education portfolio that means reinvesting $350 million back into our public education system. That means improving the quality of our pastoral care and student welfare programs. It means improving the quality of our arts programs, our languages programs, our physical education programs. It means having schools of a size that enables us to deliver the entire new curriculum framework that comes into place in 2008. It means providing schools with the resources they need to deliver quality education in every school—in the 88 government schools, the 79 preschools and the five Koori preschools across the city, so across those nearly 170 education facilities across this city, moving ahead for the next 15 years, investing in the information and communication technology that we need to lead not only this nation but the world.
Again, I welcome the fact that we will now be able to partner with a federal government that is interested in education, that is interested in investing in the quality of our public education system, providing access to computers, to broadband, additional hours of early childhood education—a range of areas where we can continue to improve the quality of our system. We have seen the report on the front page of today’s Canberra Times: again the ACT leads the nation, and against a backdrop nationally of neglect from the previous federal Liberal government.
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