Page 1756 - Week 05 - Wednesday, 4 May 2011

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he doesn’t support your funding being maintained.” I would say to the principals of MacKillop, Merici, St Edmund’s, Marist, St Clare of Assisi, St Francis Xavier, Holy Spirit, Good Shepherd and St Matthew’s—any of the Catholic schools or any of the non-government schools in Canberra—“When Andrew Barr or a Labor Party representative or a Greens’ representative comes and pretends that they support your school, ask them whether they support your funding. Ask them how they voted when it was put to them that they should stand up and say, ‘You shouldn’t have your funding ripped away from you’.” It will be interesting to see how far they back away from their vote here today. But we will remind them, Madam Deputy Speaker. So I will just put that message out there: do not believe the rhetoric from the Labor Party and the Greens. When they come to your school ask them why they want to rip funding away. Ask them why they are they comfortable with the federal government ripping funding away.

We know that the Labor Party has been hostile over time. We know that sometimes far more sensible voices in the Labor Party have prevailed. We call on those sensible voices within federal Labor—and if any of them are left within ACT Labor—to actually stand up for what they say they believe. We will make it unequivocal. We believe the federal government should not be taking funding away from our schools. We will stand up for that. We will put our vote in the Assembly to that effect. The Labor Party and the Greens have walked away from that. They have sold out these schools. This week, in Catholic Schools Week, they have sold out the Catholic schools sector. At these events I look forward to hearing from Andrew Barr and the other Labor and Greens’ representatives as to why they have sold the sector out.

Question put:

That Mr Barr’s amendment be agreed to.

The Assembly voted—

Question so resolved in the affirmative.

MADAM DEPUTY SPEAKER: The question now is that the motion, as amended, be agreed to.

MR DOSZPOT (Brindabella) (11.06): I just rise to express my disappointment in both the government and the Greens for stepping back from this motion which was reflecting on Catholic Schools Week and asking for nothing more than that this Assembly actually give some comfort, some measure of support, for the non-government sector and calling on the Minister for Education and Training and the Treasurer to make representation to the commonwealth government to ensure that

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