Page 2125 - Week 06 - Thursday, 7 May 2009
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When it comes to Indigenous affairs, after nearly eight years of this Stanhope Labor government we have seen little of substance that has managed to improve the lives of our Indigenous community—their health, their education, their housing, their quality of life. There are measures in the 2009-10 budget towards leadership and towards the Ngunnawal genealogy project that are missing. These were election promises, promises to the Indigenous community. They have not been delivered. Obviously, we will be pursuing that matter further with the government; it is simply a slap in the face to the Indigenous community.
Corrections—I could wax lyrical for hours. We have all heard of the debacle of the Alexander Maconochie Centre. There is probably more to come on that enduring fiasco; I will come to that later.
This is a failed budget from a failing Treasurer. She has failed to present a plan. It is clearly now—(Time expired.)
MR BARR (Molonglo—Minister for Education and Training, Minister for Children and Young People, Minister for Planning and Minister for Tourism, Sport and Recreation) (4.47): It is a great pleasure to rise in support of this budget and to participate in this debate. The Leader of the Opposition said two things today in his budget reply. He said that the government had stolen all of his policies and then he said that the government’s policies have stuffed everything up. Well, at least it is logical, Madam Assistant Speaker. If we had stolen Mr Seselja’s policies, yes, we would have stuffed everything up. But, happily, it is not true. So let me tell you a little about the policies that the government has pursued—policies which support jobs now and into the future.
In education, there are four key elements: a new curriculum framework, quality teaching, better schools and classrooms, and smaller classes across all levels of schooling. In children and youth, we are looking out for all of our kids. In planning, we are keeping the politics out of planning. In tourism, sport and recreation, we are creating an active and vibrant city and an active and vibrant economy.
In relation to the education portfolio, the centrepiece was a $28 million commitment over the next four years to lower class sizes in primary schools, high schools and colleges. There are further targeted policy initiatives in areas of high need, working across those four key elements in education policy that go back to my initial statements when I took over the portfolio in 2006, and focusing on four key areas—the curriculum, quality teaching, quality facilities and smaller class sizes. This government has taken the lead in all of those areas throughout our time in office.
But this budget is about more than that. It is about investing in literacy and numeracy. It is about reducing the achievement gap between our highest and lowest performing students. It is about ensuring that we are using the latest pedagogy in our literacy and numeracy strategies. That is what is important, not using 20-year-old outdated programs, but using the latest pedagogy in literacy and numeracy. This budget builds on Labor’s record of a $350 million investment in upgrading every single school in the territory and to build new schools where they are most needed. It builds on the
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