Page 2784 - Week 09 - Wednesday, 12 August 2015
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DR BOURKE: Thank you, Madam Speaker. Of course the attitude of the Canberra Liberals to wind power and the investment we are making in Bruce campus is directly relevant to this budget line item given the investment we are making in the Bruce campus to become a major trainer of wind turbine maintenance workers. The federal Liberal government, on which this Canberra Liberals team have already stated in this place this week that they seek to model themselves on, as we know, according to Associate Professor Jotzo from the Crawford School at the ANU, has no credible plan to achieve their mediocre targets. So I think this is something that really needs to be brought to the attention of the Assembly. But to conclude—
MADAM SPEAKER: You might also be mindful, Dr Bourke, of the ruling that has been made and I do have the power to sit you down.
DR BOURKE: I am about to conclude, Madam Speaker. Education is a strong and growing sector of the Belconnen economy with our residents reaping the rewards of our great education system. I commend this budget area to the Assembly.
MS LAWDER (Brindabella) (7.51): I have a few quick comments I would like to make. I commend the government on their initiative of $615,000 in this budget to counter domestic violence in schools. Obviously, addressing domestic violence with young children is important to change behaviours and knowledge right from the beginning. I think it is a good initiative. It is something that was very much recommended from that domestic violence roundtable that we held in early April. And it is good to see that that is having some money put to it in the budget.
During the estimates hearing we spoke about a specialist learning centre at Caroline Chisholm School and it was good to hear about that as well. My understanding was that the amount in the budget was not as much as was promised at the election. However, I would have to take Minister Burch at her word that it was what the school had agreed was what they need. And we will be watching the Caroline Chisholm School with a lot of attention over time.
I touch on child care very briefly. There was not much discussion on that during the estimates hearings. However, it is important to keep track of these things. We have learnt more recently of some issues in some childcare centres. I understand that the regulator sits within the education department. I had a briefing on that particular issue earlier this week and it was good to hear more about the work of that regulator. I thank the minister’s office for organising that briefing.
Education is something that every Canberran feels is important. It is something that we need to invest in. There are obviously always things that can be improved. We have already spoken about CIT, so I will not talk about that. But it is important that we keep our eye on the ball with education. What we do now with our children will see them in good stead throughout the rest of their lives. We really need to make sure that we are monitoring what is going on in our schools to get the best possible result for our children.
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