Page 130 - Week 01 - Wednesday, 14 February 1990
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MR KAINE: I repeat, Mr Speaker, that I am not responsible for the Residents Rally, nor for the Residents Rally policy, nor for the officers of the Residents Rally who make public statements on any issue whatsoever; they are free to say and do what they like. This Government will operate, as I said before, under the agreed Alliance policy. That is the policy that we are pursuing; that is the policy under which current discussions between the ITPA and the National Capital Planning Authority are taking place; that is the policy under which this Government will ultimately enter into negotiations with the Federal Minister when the time comes.
MR WOOD: That is fine. I wish to ask a supplementary question, Mr Speaker. Will you indicate to the house then, Mr Kaine, whether the Government's policy will support the broad thrust of the National Capital Plan or whether it will defend the rights of the self-governing ACT?
MR KAINE: I believe I have already answered that question quite fully, in response to Mr Berry's question, Mr Speaker.
Community Use of Schools
MR JENSEN: My question is directed to the Minister for Health, Education and the Arts. Has he heard comments by Mr Wood, the ALP spokesman on education, on the Government's decision to increase charges for community use of schools? How likely is it that community groups will be closed down, as claimed by Mr Wood?
MR HUMPHRIES: I thank the member for his question. As Education Minister it is my responsibility to ensure that the Government delivers the best value for every education dollar. While the Government is keen to make schools available for community use, it cannot allow such use to take resources away from education.
Under arrangements that operated under the previous Labor Government, the ACT schools system was subsidising public hiring of schools, sometimes by non-education organisations, at the rate of about $470,000 a year. That is almost half a million dollars of education funding which makes little contribution, or, in some cases, no contribution to the education service.
This Government developed the nominated school concept, which I believe will facilitate community use in a way that is consistent with cost recovery. Hiring will be concentrated on nominated schools covering the various regions of Canberra. By means of this cost sharing arrangement, increases in hiring charges will be kept to the level of increases in the consumer price index. To further alleviate the effect of the changes on Sunday users, increases for Sunday use of schools will be phased
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