Page 89 - Week 01 - Wednesday, 8 April 1992
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Mr Stevenson: Sometimes it was 13-1 or 14-1 or 15-1.
MR CORNWELL: I have checked them, Mr Stevenson. There were 14 divisions which were carried 16-1, and you are at liberty to check Hansard No. 16 yourself. If we allow for the hourglass - I think it runs for four minutes - at least 56 minutes was lost on that day if on each occasion somebody was out of the chamber before the hourglass ran through. Never mind about the time taken for the calling of the division. I believe, again, that this is an unnecessary waste of the Assembly's time.
I refer to page 5097 of the Hansard of 27 November 1991. I do not believe that we should allow any member to say this:
I will stand here and present as many points as I can to do with why we should block, stop, vote against, get rid of, dump, file in the wastepaper basket, adjourn until 1999 or anything else - whatever I can.
Members, I do not believe that we should tolerate that sort of thing. I believe that people have a right to object. I believe that people have a right to have their objections recorded in the Hansard. But I do not believe that members should have the right to obstruct the operations of this Assembly. Again I commend the amendment to the house.
Motion (by Mr Berry), by leave, agreed to:
That the matter be referred to the Standing Committee on Administration and Procedures for consideration and report.
T.A.F.E. FEES FOR ADULT LITERACY STUDENTS
MR MOORE (11.16): I move:
That the newly elected ACT Labor Government live by its promises and abolish fees for adult literacy students attending TAFE courses.
Madam Speaker, the ACT Council for Adult Literacy was established to support adults in the ACT experiencing difficulties with literacy and numeracy. This raises questions on literacy, rights and justice; the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favourable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment.
Employment prospects for those lacking developed literacy skills are very few. Within relationships the fact of illiteracy can, and often does, make employees powerless to promote, or even protect, their own economic interests. Under prevailing economic and technological conditions within our society, illiterate persons are prime candidates for the now permanent reserve of unemployed. That reserve of unemployed, of course, was the very thing that many Australians who voted Labor in the Federal election wanted to get rid of. It is that unemployment issue that will dominate, I believe, the next Federal election. The increasingly impersonal nature of work relations makes print competence,
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