Page 85 - Week 01 - Tuesday, 27 November 2012
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MADAM SPEAKER: A supplementary question, Mr Doszpot.
MR DOSZPOT: Chief Minister, can you give us an indication of how much this small amount will be?
MS GALLAGHER: No, I cannot at this point in time. As I said, I cannot say it would be zero dollars but it would be very minimal and it will be done within the existing budget appropriations.
MADAM SPEAKER: Supplementary question, Mr Doszpot.
MR DOSZPOT: Chief Minister, when was the decision taken to restructure these directorates?
MS GALLAGHER: Prior to the announcement being made.
Education—policy
MS PORTER: My question is to the Minister for Education and Training. I refer to the recently released data on student literacy and numeracy showing the ACT is the highest performer of the states and territories. Can the minister detail for the Assembly the priorities she will set to ensure that the ACT retains its position at the top?
MS BURCH: I thank Ms Porter for her question. The ACT Labor government is committed to ensuring that every child is given the best education possible, whatever school they go to. In the ACT we have had great success in this, and we are committed to ensuring that we retain our position as the best performing jurisdiction in Australia. We will do this by continuing to provide high quality education to our students, continuing to invest in the high quality of our teachers and continuing to build and modernise our school infrastructure.
In the last election ACT Labor set out a comprehensive policy to maintain our high quality education. My top priority as education minister will be to implement this policy. Labor is committed to supporting the national review of school funding and the transition to a needs-based funding system to provide fairer funding for every Canberra student in both public and non-government schools.
For school infrastructure we will provide $28 million for upgrading Belconnen high, $8 million for a numeracy centre at Caroline Chisholm School, $70 million to upgrade many of our older schools, $51 million for a new primary school at Coombs, and $1 million to upgrade canteen services in public schools.
No-one, of course, could forget the Canberra Institute of Technology, although I do need to say that Mr Doszpot managed to forget that in the last election. I am still waiting for that to come through.
MADAM SPEAKER: Relevance, Ms Burch.
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