Page 1753 - Week 05 - Wednesday, 4 May 2011
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Mr Seselja: No.
MR SMYTH: No, definitely not a Marist boy. But all three sectors, all three parts of the educational spectrum, work towards the betterment of our society through the education of young Canberrans. All three have fabulous things that they add. All three have distinguished themselves in aspects that make all three sectors valuable.
If we are serious about equity and if we are serious about a minister standing up for all students—he says the fight is over. The fight is not over when we do not have equity in funding. The fight is not over when choice is denied to some parents because of the only place they can get disability funding. I will look forward to the explanation of the $5 million a year for disability education—how much of that is going to the independent schools and how much is going to the Catholic schools. It will be interesting to see. Again, the minister can have leave to explain whether it is being delivered in an equitable way or whether it is just going to one sector. And that is the problem.
This is a good motion. I think the words people have said highlight that we all understand, during Catholic Schools Week, how important the Catholic school sector is. I think the theme of the week, about the journey and the education, is good. I think we all know that various schools do things differently, and I think it would be worth while for the Assembly to support this motion unamended.
MR SESELJA (Molonglo—Leader of the Opposition) (10.52): It is a real pleasure to get up and support this motion today as a proud MacKillop Catholic college product, not as—
Ms Gallagher: Dancing?
MR SESELJA: Well, there has been talk about dancing. I do not know whether MacKillop is known well for dancing. We did pretty well at Rock Eisteddfod, but I do not think that my contribution to Rock Eisteddfod could be classified as dancing.
Ms Gallagher: I’d like to see that.
MR SESELJA: Zulu circa 1993, I think. Look out for that in the archives.
Mr Barr: Before YouTube.
MR SESELJA: Before YouTube, indeed—mercifully. Aren’t we all grateful that we missed most of that in our high school years?
Mr Barr: That might be something there is unanimous agreement on in this place.
MR SESELJA: Indeed. But getting back to the manner at hand, Catholic Schools Week is a chance for the communities of all Catholic schools in the ACT and New South Wales to celebrate the many opportunities that such schools provide. In the ACT roughly 17,500 students, or approximately 26 per cent of our student population,
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