Page 2424 - Week 08 - Thursday, 6 August 2015
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The inclusion of a specific provision for service delivery to overseas schools cements the relationship the board currently has with overseas schools. The bill provides that relationship with a clear basis in legislation. The inclusion of this provision is timely. I am pleased to announce that the board, at its meeting in June, approved an application from the Weifang Hanting No 1 High School from Shandong province in China to commence the operation of an international program leading to the ACT senior secondary certificate for a small group of students at their school.
Education is, as has been noted, a major export for the ACT. Teachers from the seven overseas schools which currently deliver our curriculum visit Canberra twice a year for moderation days and also take the opportunity to visit our colleges. The opportunity for ACT teachers to engage with teachers from different cultures and to form links with overseas schools is also beneficial. The proposal to strengthen the act by referring to the services provided for these schools will endorse this endeavour.
The combined effect of these amendments is to strengthen the governance of the board and to recognise the importance of the role of overseas schools in providing additional cultural diversity to our senior secondary system. I thank members for their support of the bill.
Question resolved in the affirmative.
Bill agreed to in principle.
Leave granted to dispense with the detail stage.
Bill agreed to.
Veterinary Surgeons Bill 2015
Debate resumed from 14 May 2015, on motion by Mr Rattenbury:
That this bill be agreed to in principle.
MR HANSON (Molonglo—Leader of the Opposition) (11.22): I indicate at the outset that the Canberra Liberals will not be opposing this legislation but that we do have a number of concerns with it, a number of which have come from the veterinary profession and their representatives. To understand the reason for the need for this bill and its urgency, it is useful to understand a little bit of history. This history provides an insight into the priorities of the Labor-Greens government when it comes to dealing with the real-life issues facing real businesses and professions in this territory. It also highlights the lazy approach of this government to law reform and reduction in red tape.
From 2004 all of the 17 medical-type professional boards including doctors, nurses and veterinary surgeons in the ACT were covered by the Health Professionals Act, or the HPA, as I will refer to it. A similar arrangement existed in each state, which is partly why I am speaking on this bill as opposed to Mr Coe. This was a cumbersome and clumsy state-based registration system around Australia and added to the red tape
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