Page 1022 - Week 04 - Thursday, 18 June 1992
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MR BERRY: Mrs Carnell says, "You are not going to do it now?". Mrs Carnell needs to go back to school. She talked about school holidays in August. They do not happen in August. You are, first of all, talking about closing down beds in the August school holidays which do not exist. School holidays are in July. The holidays are in July, remember. Mrs Carnell can go back to school, find out when the school holidays are, and then make claims about the hospital system. But what the Liberals are more concerned about is creating a misconception about our hospital system and making cheap political points on any ground at all without checking the facts. They never even bothered to check when the school holidays were, let alone the facts.
There are no plans to close elective beds at Woden or Calvary. I will just pre-empt your next stunt. The next scream we will hear over in the Belconnen newspapers is, "Calvary Hospital beds to close in the August school holidays". They will not close in the August school holidays, because there are no holidays then. Neither will they close in July. This is just a classic example of Liberal misinformation. It is aimed to create concern and the misconception that there is something wrong in our hospital system. The Liberals have not even bothered to check the facts first. Madam Speaker, this is just a simple publicity stunt, and there is no evidence at all that valley residents will be affected. The Liberals have a history of inaccurate claims and scaremongering. These tactics achieve nothing more than confusing the residents of the ACT. May I say, finally, Mr Kaine, that here again is another Liberal lightweight who is no challenge at all to you.
Secondary College Students
MR CORNWELL: Madam Speaker, my question is directed to Mr Wood, the Minister for Education. I refer to the statement in the Canberra Times today that your Labor Government would take a tough stance upon students wishing to repeat year 12. I ask: How does this equate with the claim that government schooling, including colleges, accepts all students irrespective of race, creed or circumstance? Secondly, is this proposal to refuse re-enrolment legal, given that the Education Act does not have an upper age limit upon students attending schools or colleges and that the lack of places in colleges is not really a consideration, as there are currently at least 800 vacancies?
MADAM SPEAKER: Mr Wood, before you answer, I point out that, as you are probably well aware, questions are not permitted to ask for a legal opinion. So you are at liberty not to answer that element of the question if you so choose. The rest of it is okay.
MR WOOD: I think Mr Cornwell has asked some reasonable questions. It is a matter that I am giving thought to, and I will develop that thought over the year. Decisions that the ALP makes on schools are based on educational grounds. It was very much part of our argument in the school closures debate that the primary concern is educational. Nevertheless, in this circumstance we are not unaware of the economic background. Mr Kaine asked a question earlier today about savings in the education budget. Yes, I will be looking at savings. I have to look across the spectrum to see what I might do.
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