Page 3556 - Week 08 - Wednesday, 18 August 2010
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Mr Brown and his immature list of policies may well hold the government to ransom. The people of Canberra deserve an answer from the Greens on their policies, and they deserve that before the election. (Time expired.)
MS HUNTER (Ginninderra—Parliamentary Convenor, ACT Greens) (5.08): As Mr Barr requested, I have come down to clarify recent statements on the Greens’ education policy.
I will just go back over what I said in my speech earlier today. The Greens support the review into schools funding as promised by the current government since 2007. We agree with educational experts that the current federal schools funding model is flawed. However, the current government has now delayed any review, if it is re-elected, until the end of 2013. We know that nothing will happen before the review takes place, and we agree that there should be a comprehensive review into education funding and that we need a more equitable system that provides the most funding to the neediest schools.
So until the review is undertaken the Greens will be working with the new government to ensure that funding is provided, particularly through—we did talk about the application of the mining tax and being able to get money from there to put more money in to ensure high-quality education for all students. It is, as I said, about getting the balance right between supporting private, and in particular less well off independent and Catholic schools, and our public schools. That is crucial.
Sarah Hanson-Young is the spokesperson for education for the Greens in the federal parliament. She has a letter on her website that states:
The Greens support the review into schools funding, as promised by the current government since their election in 2007.
It went on with the words I just stated about agreeing with educational experts that the current federal schools funding model is flawed and welcoming constructive debate on federal schools funding to ensure a more equitable funding model that properly accounts for the needs of schools. She goes on:
However, as both major parties have delayed the review until 2013, there will be no changes to the current funding model in the next Parliament.
Let me go to a press release by Lin Hatfield Dodds on 10 August. Yes, she is standing by this statement. This is the position of Lin Hatfield Dodds, who is running as our Senate candidate here in the ACT:
I welcome debate on the issue of funding equity, and getting the balance right both supporting private and in particular less well-off independent and Catholic schools, and ensuring that our Public Schools are of the very best quality.
This is the stance of the Greens in this election campaign. This is where it is standing. We do have a policy up on our website, but, as we all know, circumstances can change from where a policy may have sat. What is clearly being said here is that both
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