Page 1922 - Week 07 - Thursday, 31 May 1990
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Mr Moore: They can afford to. That is what I would say to them.
MR HUMPHRIES: Not necessarily. Many people make choices for all sorts of reasons and not just money. I think it is a mistake to assume that money is the only factor in that arrangement. What I think is the most important aspect of quality in our system is choice - the capacity for parents to find a range of options available within our education system. I hope that we enhance and preserve as much as possible the strength and reality of that choice.
Mrs Grassby keeps referring to the fact that the Follett Government had no plans to close schools. I have to remind her and her colleagues again and again that the Follett Government did make plans to close preschools. I ask those opposite to indicate to me what is so different about preschools that they can be closed without affecting the quality of education when just the suggestion of closure of a single ordinary school affects it. For members on this side of the house to suggest that is apparently a heresy. There is a funny sort of inconsistency there.
I suspect that members opposite were simply caught out at the right time. They seem to be rather lucky in that they did not get any further down the track. Of course Ms Follett has told public meetings that her Government would never have gone any further with education cuts. I do not believe that and I do not think that many people in the ACT believe it either.
Question resolved in the affirmative.
PERSONAL EXPLANATION
MR MOORE: I claim to have been misrepresented. Mr Humphries, in referring to my speech, indicated that I did not accept monitoring of educational numeracy and literacy. That is not at all what I said. I do accept monitoring, but the point I was making at the time was that all the Minister had included under numeracy and literacy was monitoring. What about some statements about how we can improve numeracy and literacy?
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