Page 1382 - Week 07 - Thursday, 24 August 1989
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The select committee of which Mr Humphries was a member has come to the right decisions. The Liberal Party recommends that these recommendations be agreed to: The ANU and the Institute of the Arts should amalgamate because they share compatible aims and because both institutions favour an amalgamation with each other. The ANU and the CCAE, in contrast, although not amalgamating should move to a closer union with one another. Both institutions could benefit from such a move because, as Mr Humphries has already pointed out, there is an obvious need in some fields of study for cooperation. Both institutions should form a closer union because in addition to being of benefit to some particular courses it may enable a resolution to be found with Mr Dawkins. A closer union may well conform with the unified national system that Mr Dawkins has been speaking of.
The CCAE, as has already been discussed - if I recall, Mr Humphries was the one who made mention of this - should be upgraded to the status of a university. The agreement the CCAE has made with Monash University should be applauded in this regard. This agreement is the first step to the CCAE going to university status. I think it would be important at this time to point out that those people at the CCAE have been waiting for quite some time for this report to be adopted, and I urge that this afternoon the Assembly adopt that report.
(Quorum formed)
DR KINLOCH (5.05), in reply: Could I very quickly say that our committee very much welcomes the bi-, tri-, quadri- or quinti- partisanship that we have had in this matter, and I would also say that all sides of this house have cooperated in this matter. I would especially welcome and congratulate the Minister concerned on the report. I thank the Deputy Chief Minister for his statement in this debate, which I think is an excellent statement and I commend it to all, and I hope that that could find its way as an issued statement, Mr Whalan.
I think there is not much more that needs to be done than to say we welcome the corporate decisions that have been made to agree that we must now move ahead urgently. If I could only say this in these few minutes: It is absolutely vital for the institutions concerned that there be no further delay in this matter. The CCAE must be given an opportunity to move ahead to university status. The ANU needs to resolve its problems. CITA and the ANU need to get together. We need to give the ACT Government and the Deputy Chief Minister a chance to deal as urgently as possible with Mr Dawkins.
I will not go through the many parts of the report. The conclusions are before you. The recommendations are before you. The Government has endorsed almost all those recommendations. There are two qualifications, which I think are relatively minor. They are important
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