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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1995 Week 8 Hansard (25 October) . . Page.. 1998 ..

MRS CARNELL (continuing):

In other words, what was about to happen at Griffith Primary School was that the former Government were going to allow only the number of teachers that was appropriate for the number of students there. To my knowledge, that is exactly what we are doing at Charnwood High School. Mr Bill Wood made those comments as Education Minister because he well knew that there was only one other option, and the other option for him was to take those teachers from other schools; to take teachers from other schools that desperately needed those teachers; to take the approach of larger class sizes and fewer resources at other schools. Mr Wood took the sensible option, believing that equity was very important in education terms.

Mr Berry said before that the previous Labor Government was committed to equity; that the Labor Party was committed to equity. So is the Liberal Party, and that is the whole reason for this approach. It is exactly the same as the approach taken by the previous Government - that is, that there will be equity in our education system. Equity means that we simply cannot, as Mr Wood could not, allocate resources to one particular school when, as Mr Wood said, the community was moving away.

Ms McRae: Then have the guts to close it.

Mr De Domenico: No, you have the guts to amend the budget.

MR SPEAKER: Order!

MRS CARNELL: Mr Wood said here:

The fact of the matter is ... that the school effectively closed itself.

MR SPEAKER: Order! Mrs Carnell has the floor.

MRS CARNELL: Mr Wood said that the school effectively closed itself. Where were the comments that were made earlier about having the guts and all of this sort of thing? The fact is that our positions on this are identical. What we are seeing from the people opposite is absolute hypocrisy. You did exactly the same thing with Griffith Primary School. It was an appropriate approach. In our education system, particularly when primary schools and high schools at this moment are strapped and have class sizes that are bigger than we think are appropriate, we cannot allow that situation to become worse. We cannot let resources go down further than they are now. We do not believe that that is acceptable, because that upsets quality education.

The only other option, Mr Speaker, is for those opposite to have the guts to amend the budget. Every schoolchild in this city will have to wear what they are suggesting here - an extra $250,000 to Charnwood next year. That $250,000, from every other school all over Canberra, will mean fewer resources and larger class sizes. If that is what they want, they can have it on their own. I am not willing to do that, and nor is the Minister, because we believe that quality education is the bottom line here.

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