Ms MANISON - 2015-04-30
The CLP has cut government education by a further $12m in this budget, yet you maintain results are improving. Unfortunately data from your department shows the opposite. I point to a graph titled, Achievement Trends in Writing, which shows that results achieved by Territory students are on a downward trend.
I also point to a graph titled, Achievement Trends in Numeracy, which shows that results are flat lining. I further point to NAPLAN results showing that in very remote schools Territory students are significantly behind at Year 3 in reading, writing, spelling and numeracy. I seek leave to table this information.
Leave granted.
Ms MANISON: Will you now admit that your sustained attack on Territory schools is leaving Territory students worse off?
ANSWER
Mr Deputy Speaker, the only sustained attack is from Labor, which keeps attacking public education.
Ms Manison: We stood up for public education.
Mr CHANDLER: Time and time again we have tried to explain to the mob on the other side, but they do not get it. The system today is far more efficient than it was under their watch.
We have come off such a low base; they cannot deny that. They cannot deny that we inherited terrible results in the Northern Territory. There are good signs of improvement across the Northern Territory. There were no good signs of improvement, particularly under Labor, in our remote schools where the children were neglected because they were not getting a decent education, not through the lack of effort from resources or the hard work of the teachers, but through the system they were trying to operate in.
Over the last couple of days during repeated questions we pointed out that there are a couple of line items within the budget showing a decline. It was explained many times that a couple of those programs are federal and have not been funded yet, so they cannot be in our budgets. We hope some of those programs will be funded when the federal government announces its budget shortly. Should that money come to the Northern Territory it will go into these programs, but until we have guaranteed …
Ms Manison: Continual cutting of education.
Mr CHANDLER: … that funding we cannot put it into our budget.
Let us look at the education budget overall. Has is declined? No. Is this the largest education spend by a Country Liberal government, if not any government in the Northern Territory? Yes.
Ms Manison: Less support for public schools.
Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! Member for Wanguri, you have been providing a running commentary throughout this answer. I do not wish to hear it and neither does the House. You asked the question, now would you please pay the minister the courtesy of listening to the answer. You do not have to like it or agree with it, but the House would like to hear it.
Mr CHANDLER: We have global funding. We have teachers, principals, school councils and parents making decisions in schools. Labor does not like it. They want it like they had it before with an over-inflated bureaucracy where all decisions were made because they did not trust the schools. I trust the parents, principals and teachers. That is where the decisions should be made.
I can demonstrate to you clearly that results in the Northern Territory are improving from a very low base. We had more NTEC passes last year than any Labor government. We have better results, more money, more infrastructure, new schools and a better education system than Labor.
I also point to a graph titled, Achievement Trends in Numeracy, which shows that results are flat lining. I further point to NAPLAN results showing that in very remote schools Territory students are significantly behind at Year 3 in reading, writing, spelling and numeracy. I seek leave to table this information.
Leave granted.
Ms MANISON: Will you now admit that your sustained attack on Territory schools is leaving Territory students worse off?
ANSWER
Mr Deputy Speaker, the only sustained attack is from Labor, which keeps attacking public education.
Ms Manison: We stood up for public education.
Mr CHANDLER: Time and time again we have tried to explain to the mob on the other side, but they do not get it. The system today is far more efficient than it was under their watch.
We have come off such a low base; they cannot deny that. They cannot deny that we inherited terrible results in the Northern Territory. There are good signs of improvement across the Northern Territory. There were no good signs of improvement, particularly under Labor, in our remote schools where the children were neglected because they were not getting a decent education, not through the lack of effort from resources or the hard work of the teachers, but through the system they were trying to operate in.
Over the last couple of days during repeated questions we pointed out that there are a couple of line items within the budget showing a decline. It was explained many times that a couple of those programs are federal and have not been funded yet, so they cannot be in our budgets. We hope some of those programs will be funded when the federal government announces its budget shortly. Should that money come to the Northern Territory it will go into these programs, but until we have guaranteed …
Ms Manison: Continual cutting of education.
Mr CHANDLER: … that funding we cannot put it into our budget.
Let us look at the education budget overall. Has is declined? No. Is this the largest education spend by a Country Liberal government, if not any government in the Northern Territory? Yes.
Ms Manison: Less support for public schools.
Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! Member for Wanguri, you have been providing a running commentary throughout this answer. I do not wish to hear it and neither does the House. You asked the question, now would you please pay the minister the courtesy of listening to the answer. You do not have to like it or agree with it, but the House would like to hear it.
Mr CHANDLER: We have global funding. We have teachers, principals, school councils and parents making decisions in schools. Labor does not like it. They want it like they had it before with an over-inflated bureaucracy where all decisions were made because they did not trust the schools. I trust the parents, principals and teachers. That is where the decisions should be made.
I can demonstrate to you clearly that results in the Northern Territory are improving from a very low base. We had more NTEC passes last year than any Labor government. We have better results, more money, more infrastructure, new schools and a better education system than Labor.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016