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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 4 Hansard (7 May) . . Page.. 1050 ..

Mr Moore: No, it has not. It has maintained it. It has not increased it.

MR STEFANIAK: No; it has more than maintained it this year, Mr Moore. The actual maintenance would be only an extra 1.75 per cent. I think you are well aware, Mr Moore, that it is about an additional 3 per cent in terms of the funding we allocated last year, when you take everything into consideration. The Federal Government has done a number of things that this Government does not particularly agree with. I have seen some figures which would indicate that their funding is significantly greater per student for the private schools than for the government schools.

Mr Moore: About 5 per cent.

MR STEFANIAK: Yes, 5 per cent, as opposed to about 2.5 or 3 per cent, depending on what areas - primary school or high school - you look at. I can understand your being very concerned about public education. You are concerned with what the Federal Liberal Government is doing in that regard. Putting that to one side, this Territory Government, in very difficult financial times, significantly not only has maintained but has added to education funding, and I think for that we do need to be praised. I hark back to this year's budget, Mr Moore, because on top of that CPI funding of 1.75 per cent you will see those additional items. It effectively takes us to an increase of about 3 per cent in real terms compared with last year. In this very difficult economic climate, I think that is a very good result.

MR MOORE: I have a supplementary question, Mr Speaker, which will probably come as a surprise to you, but here it is. Why is it, then, Minister, that the New South Wales Labor Government can manage the sort of increase which your Government seems not to be able to do? Will you be encouraging the Chief Minister to introduce a bed tax, which can then be focused on education, just as New South Wales has introduced a bed tax?

MR STEFANIAK: Certainly not a bed tax, Mr Moore. I happened to see some very interesting statistics the other day, which indicated that, compared with I think 1993-94, when we were 116 per cent and New South Wales was a base 100 per cent in terms of funding for public education, last year it was 120 to 100. That means that, vis-a-vis New South Wales, this Government has increased funding for public education by a greater percentage than the New South Wales Government has.

Mr Moore: Except for the budget yesterday.

MR STEFANIAK: We will see what effect that has, Mr Moore. Maybe that was redressing some very real problems the New South Wales Government has got itself into; maybe it is the New South Wales Government that is doing a bit of a catch-up. I will get those figures for you. I am just quoting them from seeing them; but I do recall 116 for 1993-94 and 120 last year, with New South Wales being the base 100. That would indicate that the ACT Government has increased its funding for public education compared with the New South Wales Government. It would seem to me that, if the New South Wales Government is taking some steps in its budget now, it is doing some catching up.

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