Page 286 - Week 01 - Thursday, 14 February 2019
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Mr Rattenbury’s amendment to Ms Berry’s proposed amendment agreed to.
Ms Berry’s amendment, as amended, agreed to.
Original question, as amended, resolved in the affirmative.
Personal explanation
MS BERRY (Ginninderra—Deputy Chief Minister, Minister for Education and Early Childhood Development, Minister for Housing and Suburban Development, Minister for the Prevention of Domestic and Family Violence, Minister for Sport and Recreation and Minister for Women) (4.17): I seek leave to make a personal explanation under standing order 46.
MADAM DEPUTY SPEAKER: Leave is granted.
MS BERRY: In my speech this morning on the debate around visits to schools I said very clearly that my office and I have never instructed the directorate to uninvite members of this place to visit schools and that information that was provided in the Canberra Times article was incorrect. Ms Lee has ignored the statement I made this morning and has again implied that I uninvite members from schools. That is not the case at all.
Madam Deputy Speaker, my office has not had contact from you on visits to schools to give out prizes. If that had been the case I am sure they would have been able to go ahead. I was checking before I came down here, but I have not seen any requests from you to visit schools to give out prizes. I do not think that would have been an issue under the protocols that have been around since before I was the minister.
Future of education implementation plan
Ministerial statement
Debate resumed.
MS LEE (Kurrajong) (4.19): I welcome the minister’s commitment to reporting back to the Assembly as required by motions debated and passed last year. To refresh the Assembly’s memory, the motions that prompted this statement today were both brought on for debate by the Canberra Liberals. As is the government’s usual practice, both motions were amended to avoid any acknowledgement of failings and any real commitment to delivery other than what we see today, that is, to report back to the Assembly. Well, this statement ticks that box; yes, the minister has reported back.
The first motion by me was a lengthy itemisation of evidence that our schools are failing our students. It was a call for the government to acknowledge those failings in ACT schools and commit to change to improve academic standards. But of course the amended motion made no acknowledgement of the fact that the minister had entirely misrepresented the comments of her own commissioned research from Professor Lamb, and he was forced to correct her publicly. She made no acknowledgement that
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