Page 715 - Week 02 - Thursday, 10 March 2011

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Treasury spokesperson for the opposition—indeed when there was a variety of crossbenchers that may or may not have done it.

There is a tradition—that is not to say that traditions should not be broken—but there is also a logic in that where you have already got the Greens committed to passing the budget you can put a question mark there over the commitment to true scrutiny, because at the end of the day they are going to pass it anyway. We have seen that two years in a row now. At the very first budget, Ms Hunter was out there on budget day; she had had a pre-budget briefing and she said: “This is a great budget and a win for the Greens; we are passing it.” There was no scrutiny, no listening to the evidence, no acknowledgement of the discussion that the committee would have. And in that way the Greens with their stated position are compromised in this.

I guess that is what comes when you are part of the Greens-Labor alliance: you will stick to what you believe in. Well, good luck to you. But at the same time there is a need for an appropriate process, as we have said. My position would be that traditions evolve because often they have a sensible underlying position behind them. It is appropriate for the opposition in many ways to chair this committee. But we understand the numbers. It is unfortunate that we have deteriorated to this.

Amendment agreed to.

Motion, as amended, agreed to.

Education, Training and Youth Affairs—Standing Committee

Statement by chair

MS BRESNAN (Brindabella), by leave: The Standing Committee on Education, Training and Youth Affairs has resolved to conduct an inquiry into the accommodation needs of tertiary education students in the ACT with particular reference to:

1. Current accommodation options for students enrolled in ACT tertiary education institutions providing higher education and VET programs;

2. Models used in other jurisdictions to meet the accommodation needs of tertiary education students;

3. Student experiences of current accommodation options in the ACT, including the experiences of local, interstate and international students;

4. Strategies adopted by ACT tertiary education institutions to meet student accommodation and welfare needs;

5. Anticipated demand for student accommodation in the ACT in light of Commonwealth and Territory Governments’ priorities for the tertiary education sector;

6. Coordination and planning measures adopted by the ACT Government to meet anticipated needs in student accommodation;


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