Page 2815 - Week 08 - Wednesday, 16 August 2017
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(b) continue to implement and actively advocate for needs-based school funding in line with the National Education Reform Agreement;
(c) support the ongoing development and empowerment of school leaders, teachers and educators to deliver the best quality education to our students;
(d) support greater use of schools by sporting, community and multicultural groups to grow their place as community hubs; and
(e) ensure that ACT schools are Safe Schools where support, awareness and inclusion for same-sex attracted, intersex and gender diverse students, staff and families are provided.
Education plays an integral role in providing Canberrans with a more inclusive city that supports lifelong learning and gainful employment. It is gives me great pleasure to have the opportunity to move this motion today, being myself a product of the ACT public school system. Being a student at Lyneham High School taught me so many of the values I hold dear today, values that I hope to reflect in representing the people of Yerrabi.
The Lyneham High School community is committed to care, quality and creativity. These values played no small part in my path to politics. Working at the department of infrastructure I recognised the importance of caring for my colleagues and took up a position as a CPSU delegate, representing their rights at work. When the project team I was working with was dissolved I realised how much I valued the quality of the work we produced, so strongly, in fact, that I joined the ALP to fight against similar outcomes. The creative environment I was lucky enough to learn in no doubt contributed to me seeking to find new ways to make better use of public space as an urban planner and now an MLA.
I owe much of who I am and where I am to the education I received from ACT government schools. So I seek to move this motion today in support of this government’s ongoing commitment to ensuring that more Canberrans can enjoy the opportunities I have been lucky enough to experience. Schools play a key role in the broader community. Many of our public schools in the ACT act as harbours for multicultural, sporting and community groups. Recognising the important role our public schools play in our suburbs, the ACT budget delivers our commitment to invest $85 million in the upgrading and expansion of classrooms and facilities. This funding will ensure that Canberra’s public school facilities keep providing great infrastructure and services not just to our students and staff but to local residents and community groups.
The ACT Labor government is also investing in Gungahlin school facilities in response to growing demand. Public school enrolments in the north of Canberra have grown by 53 per cent over the last five years. With Gungahlin playing host to some of the fastest growing suburbs in the country, this trend is set to continue. The ACT government will provide $26.2 million in funding to schools in Gungahlin to
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