Page 564 - Week 02 - Wednesday, 19 March 2014
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Mr Doszpot interjecting—
MADAM DEPUTY SPEAKER: Resume your seat, please, Ms Burch. Stop the clock, please. Mr Doszpot, I have asked you to stop interjecting across the chamber several times.
Mr Doszpot: I am being taunted, Madam Deputy Speaker.
MADAM DEPUTY SPEAKER: I beg your pardon?
MR DOSZPOT: I am being taunted.
MADAM DEPUTY SPEAKER: Mr Doszpot, you were heard in silence when you—
Mr Doszpot: I apologise, Madam Deputy Speaker. Thank you.
MS BURCH: Madam Deputy Speaker, can I continue?
MADAM DEPUTY SPEAKER: Resume your seat. I am handling this. I do not need you to interrupt. Mr Doszpot, thank you for your apology. I will let you know that next time I will warn you if you interject again. Ms Burch has the floor.
MS BURCH: I am pleased that Mr Gentleman brought this motion on. It is an important motion; it is a motion that shows that this side of the chamber understands and values education, regardless of what school a child goes to. Whether it is a government school, a Catholic school or an independent school, and whether it is in Gungahlin, Garran or Gordon, it matters not, because the funding arrangements through Gonski—and I will use the word “Gonski” because everyone understands what that is—provided certainty and assurance that it was based on the children’s needs, not the postcode, not the location, not the sector of the school. It was based on students’ needs.
With respect to another comment, about what I am trying to do with quality teachers, I am very rightly wanting the best teachers that I can put in front of our kids in government schools. The notion of applying a test for those new recruits into the ACT public education system, so that they sit in the top 30 per cent on numeracy and literacy, is the right thing to do.
For members’ information, research papers produced by the Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership and the Grattan Institute back that up as being the absolutely right policy to go for. This government wants all children and young people in the ACT to have the education and skills required to live fulfilling and productive lives, and the best way to do that is to provide quality education regardless of the school that our children or young people attend.
In May of last year this government and the Australian government proudly signed a heads of agreement that made a clear statement that we understood that the national plan for school improvement was the right thing to do for our community. Together,
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