Page 89 - Week 02 - Wednesday, 24 May 1989
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great concern that it was dealt with at that particular point in the Chief Minister's address.
It is heartening to see the preschool fee abolished, but there is still some concern that preschools and colleges, which represent the area of non-compulsory education, could well be under attack. It certainly appears to be the case, judging by my discussions with people throughout the Schools Authority and throughout Canberra, that there is an attitude that non-compulsory education ought not be free education. We would hope that the education throughout the ACT, both in the public sector and in the private sector, is such that our children - our future - can be given the very best chance and can provide the very best for this Territory.
One of the first things to achieve that - and this is one of the great challenges that faces the Minister for Industry, Employment and Education, Mr Whalan - is to raise the morale of the teaching service. I hope that if there is any way that we can assist in that area we will be able to do so. Perhaps one way of re-establishing that morale and the involvement of the community in education is by re-establishing the Schools Authority or its equivalent. At present the Chief Education Officer is also basically the Schools Authority. We consider this totally inadequate for a government that considers that it is an open and consultative government.
With reference to health and community services - and in this case my speech precedes that of the Minister for Community Services and Health - let me just emphasise that we would like to see an emphasis on community health. The Minister obviously has a great challenge in front of him in terms of the hospitals. I hope that we can assist him there in consultation on retaining, as is our policy, the Royal Canberra Hospital in the best way, but at the same time in seeking to find a way to have a principal hospital concept which is appropriate to Canberra and which will provide the best possible medical services for Canberra.
We will seek with him to register practitioners of alternative medicine, and will pay particular attention to hospice and palliative care which obviously needs a great deal of time and effort. At this point I will pass to the Clerks a motion that I have for tomorrow, which I hope will require very little discussion in this Assembly, and the Assembly will formally know that it is Schizophrenia Week in the ACT. It seeks to show that this Assembly has some interest in mental health and that mental health is an area that does require work in order for us to ensure that people who are inflicted with that sort of illness have the appropriate respect and so forth that they are due.
With reference to youth affairs, I think the greatest challenge at the moment is with homeless youth. I hope that the Minister for Housing and Urban Services in particular, and various other Ministers who are involved in
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