Page 2703 - Week 09 - Thursday, 9 August 1990
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
To die, to be gravely ill -
And to expose our children and ourselves to
The heartache and the thousand unnecessary shocks
That flesh can be heir to.
I will not continue, but that is the gist of what Choice magazine had to say on this very important subject of influenza vaccination.
School Closures
MR WOOD: I direct my question to the Minister for Education. It is perfectly clear that the case the Opposition has been presenting is obviously winning because the Government will do anything to avoid answering questions. As I ask this question I would remind the Minister that he once read a policy document and vowed to stand by it. That document said - and I am paraphrasing here - that his party would return education decision making to an autonomous body. What has he done? He has rejected entirely the advice of the advisory body he set up. Can the Minister assure the Canberra community that there will be no more closures after this round?
MR HUMPHRIES: To answer the first part of the question first, I did not set up any consultative committee; I inherited a consultative committee and I was happy to consider its advice. In respect of giving decision making to an autonomous body, it is still the Government's intention to proceed with a green paper outlining our new structure for governing education in the ACT. I was prepared to issue that some months ago but in fact was asked by the school community, particularly the bodies like the Parents and Citizens Council and others, not to proceed with that document while the issue of school reshaping was on the table, lest those particular bodies were unable to cope with all the demands for consultation and discussion that that kind of green paper would demand.
I acceded to that request and I still have that green paper ready to go out. It will appear in the near future. In terms of whether schools will close again, I say with great certainty and confidence that the closures announced by this Government the other day are the only closures that will occur in the course of this Assembly.
School Bus Services
MRS GRASSBY: My question is to Mr Humphries. What will be the capital and recurrent costs for providing new bus services made necessary by the closure of schools? How many new services will need to operate?
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .