RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS - Queensland Parliament ...

More documents

Recommendations

Info

2316 Appropriation (Parliament) Bill; Appropriation Bill 31 Oct 2012 and accountability issues. I believe this will be very challenging. With changing technology there will be many state-of-the-art new initiatives that this department will be able to deliver in the future. It will be a customer focused process. I look forward to what no doubt will be an exciting era. I note the very long statement of reservations put into this report by the opposition, which is their right, but I was disappointed at the sometimes very personal attacks and approaches from the opposition both in the statement of reservations and in questioning. I believe the people of Queensland are not impressed by muckraking. They are much more impressed by the delivery of fiscally sound government which the opposition should be part of. I would like to particularly commend the Treasurer, the Hon. Tim Nicholls, for a very sound budget delivered under extremely difficult challenges after the legacy left by the Labor Party. This has been a very difficult six months for the Premier and ministers and I sincerely congratulate them all for their solid work. Ms PALASZCZUK (Inala—ALP) (Leader of the Opposition) (9.11 pm): At the outset I thank the chair and members of the committee for participating in this Education and Innovation Committee’s estimates hearing. I will be restricting my comments to the education component of the committee’s deliberations. The minister, when asked in the abstract about the laudable goal contained in the Education (General Provisions) Act 2006 to provide universal access to high-quality state education, gave all the right answers. He waxed lyrical about the provision of high-quality education across regional Queensland. However, given the specifics of the children enrolled in the travelling show school, the matter was entirely different. He was not so concerned about those children’s right to the high-quality education they have been receiving. The minister actually gave poor attendance records and their poor NAPLAN results as a reason for closing the school. Yet in the reading category for the year 3 cohort the Queensland School for Travelling Show Children received a higher score than nine other Queensland schools. I hope the minister is not threatening to close those schools also because of poor NAPLAN results. No-one would doubt that the circumstances of the children attending the travelling show school are unusual to say the least. I would have thought that a better option would be to provide the additional support that was necessary to bring those results up to par with the rest of the state. The minister admitted that he had held meetings with representatives of the school, but what he failed to deny when asked was the allegation made by those present at the meeting that his chief of staff said in a meeting with those representatives, ‘Why should we keep you open when you have been slagging us off in the media?’ Another disturbing feature of the minister’s answering of questions was his apparent lack of knowledge of the legislative requirements for closure of a school in Queensland. He seemed totally unaware that there is a legislative requirement for consultation to occur with the school community. He seemed totally oblivious to the fact that if the minister is proposing to close a school, the minister must publish a notice about the proposal in the Queensland Government Gazette. He also seemed totally unfamiliar with the requirement for the gazettal notice to be published at least six months prior to any school closure, as did his director-general. But given some time and the advice of his department the minister was able to come back to the committee later to advise that even though the school closure would not be gazetted six months before the school closed at the end of the school year this year, the school will cease operations at the end of this year, but the official closure will take effect from a date at least six months after publication of the notice in the gazette. That is certainly some sleight of hand on the part of the minister. I wonder who would be able to distinguish between a school closure and a cessation of operation of a school. I think they would look pretty much the same to me, but one would comply with the legislation and the other would not. On a more positive note, I was excited by the advice from the director-general that the kindy participation rate had reached 68 per cent last year with a goal of 65 per cent under the national partnership agreement. That is an amazing achievement when we consider that in 2009 the kindy participation rate in Queensland was only 29 per cent. I am pleased that both the minister and the director-general acknowledge this achievement. The director-general described kindy as a wonderful story for Queensland and I would have to agree. This would certainly be one of the achievements of the previous Labor government of which we are most proud. I want the minister to know that we put the groundwork in in building these new kindies, in approving long day-care centres to deliver a kindy program and to employ qualified kindy teachers. We will be looking to him to deliver the final targets under the national partnership agreement in the next couple of years. Mr BENNETT (Burnett—LNP) (9.15 pm): It is my pleasure, after my first estimates, to support the adoption of the report of the Education and Innovation Committee. It was a pleasure to participate as part of the committee. At the outset I express my gratitude for the cooperation of all of the members of the committee, including the chair Rosemary Menkens. I also express my thanks to the ministers who appeared before the committee, their respective directors-general and other officers, all of whom
31 Oct 2012 Appropriation (Parliament) Bill; Appropriation Bill 2317 conducted themselves, in my view, with the appropriate dignity and transparency that was expected. I acknowledge the work done by Ms Bernice Watson, Ms Emily Booth and Ms Carolyn Heffernan, all research officers to parliament. The portfolios covered included those of the Department of Education, Training and Employment and the Department of Science, Information Technology, Innovation and the Arts. These are very important economic portfolios. These portfolios are vital to the economic wellbeing and growth of our state. They are also very important because they relate to the future economic, social and cultural wellbeing of our citizens, particularly in relation to education, skills and training. The portfolios covered by this committee’s responsibilities are broad and interesting, but also vital in terms of the interests of Queensland. Education is key to the government’s belief in the attainment of social justice and its belief that every Queenslander has the right to fulfil their potential in life. The expenditure and commitments in the budget highlight the government’s commitment to delivering for those young and impressionable in our community. One of the most important challenges we face in this term of parliament is the training of our young people. The figures that are coming out of Wide Bay Burnett and across Queensland in terms of the skilled workforce we require in the state are deliverable with action. In some areas in Queensland we have a youth unemployment rate of more than 20 per cent. This is an indictment on the previous Labor government. Quite rightly the budget was a once-in-ageneration budget and well overdue. That is why investment of up to $86 million over six years to support 10,000 additional apprentices and investment of $10 million to fund 500 university scholarships for women in traditionally male dominated fields or in areas experiencing skills shortages administered by Skills Queensland are welcomed. The estimates process allowed review of Skills Queensland and the Skills and Training Taskforce and incentives to attract and keep apprentices. In terms of my electorate, I was very pleased that the relevant ministers made reference to my need for a review of schooling in Queensland. We welcome the Queensland Schools Plan Commission’s review of the need for a state high school at Bargara. This review will allow my community a clear outline on the process and possible timelines. Our children are our most vulnerable Queenslanders. It was pleasing to receive clear and important policies on what is being done to help protect them from abuse and sexual assault. In addition the minister provided a concise update to the committee on how we are addressing bullying in our schools. The government’s commitment to disability services in regional Queensland was reiterated, in particular the acknowledgment of the need for the provision of staff to assist students with autism spectrum disorder. The Advancing Our Schools Maintenance Fund, which will allow state school parents and citizens organisations to apply for up to $160,000 to fix existing priority maintenance issues at their schools, will be great for education outcomes and providing appropriate learning environments for our students. I remind the House that government service delivery can be conducted by QBuild, especially when there is a need to manage risk. I welcome the contestability improvements with the Department of Public works for this organisation. The new asbestos removal initiatives are welcomed and the best agency to deliver this important function for government is QBuild. The areas of responsibility of the Minister for Science, Information Technology, Innovation and the Arts are administered through the Department of Science, Information Technology, Innovation and the Arts and a number of statutory authorities and entities. The statutory authorities are the Queensland Art Gallery, the Queensland Museum, the Queensland Performing Arts Trust, the Queensland Theatre Company and the State Library of Queensland, Library Board of Queensland. The two entities are the Queensland Government Chief Information Office and the Office of the Queensland Chief Scientist. The four companies supported by the Arts portfolio are the Aboriginal Centre for Performing Arts, Major Brisbane Festivals, Screen Queensland and the Queensland Music Festival. As part of the committee, it was pleasing to be able to review the budget highlights for the Department of Science, Information Technology, Innovation and the Arts. A highlight was the establishment of the arts advisory board. I want to say something about the performance of the estimates committee and the claims made today by the member for Bundamba about the time allocated. I felt a little embarrassed about that. Our committee, with input from the sensible members from the opposition, decided the way the process was to work. I acknowledge the Deputy Leader of the Opposition and the Leader of the Opposition for the great way that they worked on the committee. The bipartisan spirit of the committee was excellent. Therefore, I was very disturbed and disappointed that our estimates committee lost its way with verballing of the ministers and staff and verballing of the committee chair. The committee system is valuable and it needs to be treated with respect in the future. Again I congratulate the ministers and staff and look forward to the results from this budget. Mr BOOTHMAN (Albert—LNP) (9.20 pm): I wish to thank both ministers and the departments for their informative responses to the committee’s questions on Tuesday 16 October. I also wish to thank my fellow committee members, the committee chair, Rosemary Menkens, and the research staff, Bernice, Emily and Carolyn, for their help and assistance. It is truly an honour to be a member of the Education and Innovation Committee and participate in designing the future learning outcomes of young minds. Education is the sum of all minds, past and present, to create prosperity for those willing to learn.
Page 1 and 2:
PROOF ISSN 1322-0330 RECORD OF PROC
Page 3 and 4:
Table of Contents — Wednesday, 31
Page 5 and 6:
31 Oct 2012 Legislative Assembly 22
Page 7 and 8:
31 Oct 2012 Privilege 2251 Madam SP
Page 9 and 10:
31 Oct 2012 Tabled Papers 2253 Surv
Page 11 and 12:
31 Oct 2012 Questions Without Notic
Page 13 and 14:
Page 15 and 16:
Page 17 and 18:
Page 19 and 20:
Page 21 and 22: 31 Oct 2012 Questions Without Notic
Page 23 and 24: 31 Oct 2012 Appropriation (Parliame
Page 53 and 54: 31 Oct 2012 Classification of Compu
Page 55 and 56: 31 Oct 2012 South East Qld Water (R
Page 57 and 58: 31 Oct 2012 Weapons and Other Legis
Page 71: 31 Oct 2012 Appropriation (Parliame
Page 103 and 104: 31 Oct 2012 Adjournment 2347 Early
Page 105 and 106: 31 Oct 2012 Adjournment 2349 School
Page 107 and 108: 31 Oct 2012 Adjournment 2351 During
show all

RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS - Queensland Parliament ...

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?