Page 3691 - Week 12 - Wednesday, 23 October 2013
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Vocational education is also something that the current government has committed to continuing to develop and improve. The ACT government is committed to transforming the vocational training sector in Canberra, with 23,900 vocational education students in the capital. This is why this government is delivering $180,000 to undertake a feasibility study investigating how CIT education can be best provided for the Woden Valley, Weston Creek, Tuggeranong and Molonglo communities. This will ensure that current skill shortages are addressed and students in Canberra can obtain qualifications in the skills that they want to.
The government has also committed $240,000 in 2013-14 to continue to support the children’s services sector to upskill its workforce to meet requirements for the national quality framework. That will bring workers up to the required certificate III level. These are developments that will continue to ensure that the territory is well maintained and a positive place to live well into the future.
Whether it is ensuring urban renewal, a well-maintained, functional and accessible healthcare system, or the education system working to create the best possible learning outcomes for all students, this is a government that is delivering and will continue to deliver the things which are important to Canberra’s community throughout the next three years.
MS BURCH (Brindabella—Minister for Education and Training, Minister for Disability, Children and Young People, Minister for the Arts, Minister for Women, Minister for Multicultural Affairs and Minister for Racing and Gaming) (11.55): I do thank Dr Bourke for bringing forward this motion. It is hard for many of us in this chamber, I think, to reflect that it has been a year since the election, and it is a year, for many of us, that has gone incredibly quickly. Looking back on what this government has delivered in this time, I believe we have an impressive list of achievements and a clear agenda of reform that will improve the lives of all Canberrans. I am indeed pleased to stand here, one year on, and say that we have delivered on many of the commitments that we went to the community with, and on others we have commenced the necessary preparation to deliver on our commitments in this term of government.
In my responsibilities for education and training across Disability, Children and Young People and across other areas of community services, we have delivered on many of these commitments. In education, of course, the biggest reform is better schools, formerly known as Gonski. In May this year, the Chief Minister signed the national education reform agreement with the commonwealth, ensuring long-term improvements to our schools and a fairer approach to funding based on the needs of every student.
Building on the already strong investment in the ACT, the agreement will bring the total public investment in ACT schools to around $5 billion over the next six years. This will see funding to education increase by $190 million, from current levels of around $692 million to $882 million in 2019. These arrangements will mean that all schools in the ACT—the government, the independent and the Catholic schools—will see fair funding growth each year for the next six years.
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