Page 1843 - Week 07 - Wednesday, 30 May 1990
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Government will have to weigh up carefully in the course of deciding which schools will close. It is ridiculous to suggest that those sorts of things will not be taken into account, but taking them into account now is obviously not appropriate. Doing it now would obviously mean alarming some communities that their particular facilities will be affected whereas they may not when the final decision is made.
MR BERRY: Mr Speaker, I wish to ask a supplementary question. When can the community of Canberra expect that the Government might express an interest in the effect that school closures will have on small businesses?
MR HUMPHRIES: The Government has an enormous interest in the effect on the community of things of this kind. It is intent on ensuring that small business, in particular, in the ACT continues to prosper and grow. We will be ensuring that everything that we can possibly do will be done in that regard. Before Mr Berry goes touting his affection for small business, he ought to think of some of the things that his Government did while it was in office that hurt small business.
Ms Follett: Like what?
MR HUMPHRIES: Like increases in payroll tax, Ms Follett.
Ms Follett: They don't pay it.
MR HUMPHRIES: Some small businesses do pay payroll tax, you will have to realise.
Ms Follett: They are not small, in that case.
MR HUMPHRIES: There is the logic of Ms Follett: if they have 10 employees, they are not small. That is the sort of stupid thing that I think we have come to expect from the Opposition. Mr Berry will see that we will be treating the process of change very carefully, with due consideration given to the community. Nothing that he or his colleagues have said today in any way affects or tarnishes the Government's intention in that regard.
Schools Administration
MR MOORE: My question also is addressed to the Minister for Health, Education and the Arts. Can he tell us whether his Executive Deputy, Dr Kinloch, acquainted him with information given to Dr Kinloch in April this year which made it very clear how millions of dollars worth of cuts could be made to the Education Department through a reappraisal of the administrative pyramid, without closing any schools whatsoever? If the Minister is familiar with this information, can he tell us whether he intends implementing it, or has he been convinced by his
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