Page 834 - Week 03 - Wednesday, 21 March 2018
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good. Minister, on what information or evidence do you say that NAPLAN is doing more harm than good?
MS BERRY: Members of this place will know that I have been conducting a conversation with the community around the future of education in the ACT, with already over 5,000 individuals having contributed to that conversation. The paper that I released on the themes identified some of the issues that students particularly but also teachers and parents were talking with me about: how that standardised testing, the theatre around NAPLAN and the competition amongst schools around NAPLAN testing was making them feel about their education. I have had quite a bit of evidence straight from the people whom it affects.
MS LEE: Minister, what information or evidence is your government relying on to look to abolishing NAPLAN rather than improving educational outcomes?
MS BERRY: If you read the article, I am not suggesting that we get rid of NAPLAN. I am suggesting that we improve it.
MR WALL: Minister, what is the status of the implementation of recommendations from the Auditor-General’s report?
MS BERRY: They will be responded to.
Taxation—impact of reform
MR PARTON: My question is to the Chief Minister and Treasurer. Chief Minister, in March this year the Canberra Times published an opinion piece by some old friends of yours, Jon Stanhope and Khalid Ahmed. They said:
A family buying a house today will: pay more for the house and land package, more in stamp duty, and much more in rates—a triple whammy. This is not what the people of Canberra were promised when they were asked to accept the taxation reform proposal.
They continued:
… its land supply and taxation policies are having the greatest negative impact on first homebuyers, young Canberra families and residents who fall within the bottom three income quintiles.
Chief Minister, why are Canberrans facing a triple whammy of a more expensive house and land package, stamp duty and much higher rates?
MR BARR: The government is, of course, cutting stamp duty. We are the only state or territory government in the country that is phasing out that inefficient tax. That has been a policy that we have been delivering budget after budget since 2012.
I think the more interesting recent bit of academic work into the question of housing affordability was that conducted by the Reserve Bank of Australia. Its work in fact
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