Page 763 - Week 03 - Tuesday, 19 March 2019
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their members, and you can see the key drivers that have led to this musically rich resource and just how influential this music for colleges program has been over its 35-year existence.
But that is soon to stop. This year is the last year of its operation for music students. As we know, the ACT government, with little consultation and no plausible explanation, decided this activity must stop. For the sake of a miserly $275,000 we have lost this potential talent pathway, and we will never really know the true story.
Earlier today the response to the H course petition, signed by over 1,500 ACT residents, was tabled. We remember, of course, that this petition was sponsored by the Greens Ms Le Couteur, the same Ms Le Couteur who voted against the Canberra Liberals’ motion to restore funding. The hypocrisy here is absolutely palpable and, whilst she has clearly pulled the wool over the eyes of some of the promising students who have, in good faith, placed their trust in her to stand up for them, I hope that she can go home tonight and look at herself in the mirror and ask whether she has genuinely done anything to help these students.
Obviously whilst the government thought that the axing of the H course in music was no big deal, a number of Canberra residents do not share that view. But wait! We have all been in error apparently. Minister Ramsay, presumably replying in his role as arts and cultural events minister, says it is not the H course in music; apparently it is the music of the colleges program. Silly me! He then takes three pages of inconsequential and apparently irrelevant waffle to conclude:
This significant support to the ANU highlights the government’s commitment to the arts and education.
This woeful response from the minister is condescending and disrespectful to the thousands of Canberrans who signed the petition and to the countless promising Canberra music students who will be robbed of their opportunities. He should be ashamed of himself for turning his back on our future musicians. As they say in the classics, tell that to the marines. And, in this instance, tell that to the abandoned HSC music students. The Canberra Liberals know the importance of nurturing study in the arts and we will continue to fight for them. I once again thank Mrs Dunne for bringing on this matter of public importance for debate today.
MR RAMSAY (Ginninderra—Attorney-General, Minister for the Arts and Cultural Events, Minister for Building Quality Improvement, Minister for Business and Regulatory Services and Minister for Seniors and Veterans) (4.11): I rise to affirm the importance of developing Canberra’s young writers and performing and visual artists. It gives me great pleasure to be able to advise the Assembly of the extensive support, across a broad range of art forms, that the ACT government provides to young artists in our vibrant and creative city. I note in passing that I was very pleased to be able to attend the 50th anniversary gala of the Young Music Society on Sunday at Albert Hall. I affirm the wonderful contribution that they have made and continue to make to this city.
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