Page 2726 - Week 07 - Wednesday, 6 June 2012
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MR HANSON: Supplementary.
MR SPEAKER: Yes, Mr Hanson.
MR HANSON: Minister, the 2012 budget states that this facility will be on a stand-alone site. Where is this site?
MS GALLAGHER: The preferred site for the secure unit has not changed.
MR HANSON: A supplementary, Mr Speaker.
MR SPEAKER: Yes, Mr Hanson.
MR HANSON: Minister, estimates for this facility have ranged from $11 million to $37 million. How do you now estimate the cost to be approximately $20 million?
MS GALLAGHER: Because of the changes that we will bring in terms of the design. One of the concerns I had with the $35 million proposal was that it seemed to have some very generous outdoor areas. The model of care that had been developed had increased the costs of the facility overall. The cabinet have sent, I think, a message by saying that we are providing $2 million for this facility, roughly being 10 per cent of the cost, and we would expect a facility to be designed in the order of $20 million.
Budget—students with disabilities
MR DOSZPOT: My question is to the minister for education. Minister, the budget outlines additional money to support students with a disability in non-government schools, which will come from quarantined funds in the interest subsidy scheme. Can the minister outline how this initiative is intended to be maintained in the outyears?
DR BOURKE: I thank the member for his question. Of course this government is proud to have delivered record funding to Catholic and non-government schools in the ACT. In this budget, as Mr Doszpot has correctly noticed, we have committed $2 million for students within non-government schools. This is, as he correctly points out, for the next financial year.
Mr Doszpot: The question was not answered, Mr Speaker.
MR SPEAKER: Mr Doszpot, you have a supplementary question.
MR DOSZPOT: Given that the average cost of a student with a disability in a mainstream school is $28,506 per annum, how will the additional $2 million provide appropriate support for the nearly 500 students in non-government schools? And this is a serious question, minister.
DR BOURKE: I thank the member for his question. This support is on top of the already significant amounts of funding that the ACT government provides—provides—for non-government schools in the ACT. The member will also recollect
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