Page 3772 - Week 11 - Tuesday, 24 September 2019
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case given the commonwealth laws, and can you explain any legal barriers which stop the ACT making its own laws with respect to drugs?
MR RAMSAY: To the extent that that is asking for a legal opinion, I will move beyond it to an area of legal policy. Certainly constitutional matters are being considered as to whether a bill is consistent with commonwealth legislation and the constitution and therefore the extent to which commonwealth law would take precedence. That is part of the work that has been happening in terms of the drafting of the legislation and the government amendments.
Without pre-empting where the debate may or may not go tomorrow, the government’s view has been all the way through that the intention of this bill is not to make it so that cannabis is easier to use but rather what should or should not be considered by the criminal justice system. We believe that the possession of small amounts of cannabis is rightly and primarily a matter of health rather than a matter for the criminal justice system and we are dealing with the matter accordingly.
Education—class sizes
MR MILLIGAN: My question is to the minister for education. Minister, how many primary school classes in the ACT are above the maximum capacity set out in your agreement with the Education Union?
MS BERRY: The Education Union and the Education Directorate are working very closely together to ensure that ratios within our classrooms are applied as per the enterprise agreement. Sometimes with team teaching that will mean that there will be a number of teachers and a number of students within an area, but the ultimate goal is that teachers are not under pressure and can provide children with the best possible learning outcomes.
MR MILLIGAN: Minister, can I ask you the question again: how many primary school classes in the ACT are at or above the maximum capacity set out in the agreement with the Education Union?
MS BERRY: I do not have the information on the particular question today. I can find out what is happening today, and provide information back to the Assembly on that, if that is the case, although, as I said, the Education Directorate, the union and my office are working very closely together to ensure that teachers have the best possible teaching spaces and experiences to provide our children with the best learning outcomes.
MR WALL: Minister, what is the educational impact of overcrowding in classrooms in government schools?
MS BERRY: Sorry, I will have to get him to repeat the last bit. I did not quite hear it. He was sitting down at the end of the question and I just could not hear it.
MADAM SPEAKER: I will ask him—
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