Page 2067 - Week 10 - Wednesday, 25 October 1989

Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .


process of facing those realities and examining the figures. There is a lot of detailed examination of very specific enrolment figures. When we say that it is possible to remain open, it is of course possible to maintain a preschool open with 30 enrolled children, or 25 enrolled children, but there comes a point of time where if there are 10 children enrolled it is possible for it to remain open but the question remains about the viability in all the circumstances.

Canberra Times Site

MR DUBY: Mr Speaker, my question is directed to the chairman of the Standing Committee on Planning, Development and Infrastructure, Mr Collaery. Mr Collaery, I refer to the editorial in the Canberra Times today, which I might say, as a member of that very same committee, outrages me quite a bit. It states that you have decided to support the issuing of a fresh lease for the old Canberra Times site. Have you ever expressed such support publicly and, if so, when?

MR COLLAERY: I thank Mr Duby for that totally interesting question. Mr Speaker, the fact is that I have never publicly supported the grant of a new lease for the Canberra Times site. Further, I was equally dismayed to see that report because, of course, as Mr Duby well knows and as my colleagues Mr Wood and Mr Kaine know, the report of that committee on that matter is not yet finalised. Indeed, we have yet to receive further, presumably important, evidence from the National Capital Planning Authority. So it is completely premature to put words in my mouth, words that were never spoken publicly.

Higher School Certificate

DR KINLOCH: I address my question to the Minister for Industry, Employment and Education. In the ACT there are a number of single-gender schools, some for females, some for males. We are particularly pleased to welcome students from the Canberra Church of England Girls Grammar School today. One of those single-gender schools uses a year 12 assessment system, the HSC assessment system of New South Wales. Could the Minister outline the formal policies, now and to come, of the Department of Education in connection with schools with such an assessment system? Specifically, is any component of financial aid likely to be available to support that school in its method of assessment?

MR WHALAN: I thank Dr Kinloch for the question. In opening my comments I would like to say that I spent all my high school years in a single-gender school. It was a boys school.


Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .