Page 3820 - Week 13 - Thursday, 18 October 1990
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MR DUBY: Having got the whole area in place and catering to the young people of the city - are you not interested in young people?
Mr Berry: Well, if he wants to make a ministerial statement it would be fine.
MR SPEAKER: Order!
MR DUBY: Are you not interested in the problem involving young folk around town? It is a matter which generally raises lots of complaints - letters to the editors, complaints from traders and complaints from police about interfering with the rightful use of public places. I thought Mr Berry would be very interested to hear that the Government has taken great pains to provide a facility to meet those needs of our young population, people who are interested in this sort of activity.
Ms Follett: They would rather have a school.
MR DUBY: Not in Christmas holidays, they would not. Once completed, the Belconnen skateboard park will be one of the leading public skateboard facilities in Australia. It will provide safe, professionally designed structures to replace the shopping centres and car parks that skateboarders currently utilise because of the lack of proper facilities for their sport and their recreation.
Mr Wood: And who has the legal responsibility if accidents occur? Can you tell me?
MR DUBY: Are you going to ask a supplementary question, Mr Wood? I must admit that this Government is committed to the program - something which we introduced - of providing skateboarding facilities in neighbourhood parks and other key areas in Canberra. That is continuing and, as I said, we are providing facilities for the young people of the city, people who are generally neglected and forgotten by the Opposition.
Teacher Morale
MR MOORE: My question is directed to the Minister for Education. At what level does he consider teacher morale to be at the moment and how important is teacher morale in terms of the education of our children?
MR HUMPHRIES: To answer the second question first, of course morale is extremely important and I do not, for one moment, wish to underestimate its importance. In terms of the state of morale, obviously morale is affected by a number of factors. Morale, teachers or teacher unions would claim, is being most affected at the present time by the outcome or the lack of outcome, if you like, of
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