Page 5136 - Week 17 - Wednesday, 12 December 1990
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School Closures - Pupil-Free Days
MR WOOD (5.29): Mr Speaker, I want briefly to express my concern at the attitude demonstrated by Mr Humphries this morning, when he was answering a question about the cost to parents of pupil-free days in those schools that are closing. Mr Humphries' attitude seemed to me to be that it is tough luck; if the parents have to meet an expense, then they can do so, or they can creep into the school - it was not his word - and ask the principal whether that cost could be paid for them.
We send our children to school and the Government undertakes the responsibility of paying for their time at school and of generally providing teachers. At Government instruction three days were cut off the school year - admittedly not the busiest part of the school year - to assist the schools to be closed. The children have already suffered one penalty and this Government - or the Minister on its behalf - has imposed a further penalty. It is my belief that the Government has to accept the financial responsibility for the cost of the people who are providing child-care. It should have provided teachers.
I think Mr Humphries said that the cost would have been $20,000. Well, so be it. The cost that has been incurred in closing schools is many times greater than that, and $20,000 would have been a flea bite as part of the overall cost. But, if you are going to have child-care, let us accept that. Surely the $15 per student per day was a proper responsibility of the education department. It should have been automatically paid direct to the carers, and not taken out of the parents' pockets. It is no argument to say that if the parents are in financial difficulty they can go and ask the school to have it paid for them. Parents do not want to do that. Indeed, whether the parent is rich or poor, it is the obligation of this Government to provide for the child during the whole of the year. I think this is a disgraceful attitude that has been adopted.
However, since it is near the end of the year, and school holidays have a significance for me, Mr Speaker, you can congratulate me; it is my thirty-first wedding anniversary today.
Australian Children's Television Foundation
MR HUMPHRIES (Minister for Health, Education and the Arts) (5.32): Mr Speaker, I rise to touch on a subject unrelated to anything else discussed today, namely, the Australian Children's Television Foundation. Members of the chamber will be aware that the Australian Children's Television Foundation was set up some time ago by the Australian Education Council to fill a perceived need in the area of children's television, and in the time since its
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