Page 1468 - Week 05 - Wednesday, 17 April 1991
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The relevant performance of students across the colleges is established, in part, by a truly external examination, namely, the ASAT test, which is set and marked by independent external examiners. ASAT is also used by Queensland and Western Australia, and I understand that it is also under consideration by a number of other States. Of course, 99 per cent of students who obtained a tertiary entrance score in the ACT last year were eligible to attend tertiary institutions across Australia. That is an extraordinary achievement, Mr Speaker, and it says something about our system. Studies show that ACT students who continue on to university perform as well as their peers educated in other education systems, and I would not be surprised if, in fact, they perform much better.
Fluoridation
MR STEVENSON: The Attorney-General's answer to the question as to what actions he has taken over my statements in this house on organised crime and the X-video connection was most appropriate, so I do not need to ask it. However, I do have a question for the Minister for Health, Gary Humphries, and it concerns a quote from the Canberra Chronicle by a concerned Canberra citizen about compulsory fluoridation. It states: "I am a citizen, a voter, a taxpayer and a water drinker. I cannot reconcile the compulsory dosing of the population with any sort of democracy or personal freedom". Would the Minister explain why Canberrans are still being compelled to ingest sodium silico-fluoride?
MR HUMPHRIES: Mr Speaker, no, I could not, just at the moment. There is a debate on fluoride pending in this Assembly as a result of the report of the Standing Committee on Social Policy. That will be a more than appropriate venue at which to canvass these issues. I could express a personal view on the matter; but, quite frankly, I think my views personally are already very well known to Mr Stevenson and to the rest of the members of the Assembly. I think the more appropriate place at which the Government and other members of parties in this Assembly should make their views known on that standing committee report would be in the context of the debate we have at that time on that report, and not now.
MR STEVENSON: I ask a supplementary question, Mr Speaker. As the Minister refers to the report by the Social Policy Committee tabled two months ago in this Assembly, would the Minister indicate what specific action he has undertaken to speed up that debate in this Assembly? Perhaps he may wish at this time to mention whether or not he has read the full report and not just the part in the front.
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