Mrs FINOCCHIARO - 2015-04-30
Unlike the member for Wanguri’s tragic question – she has obviously been spending a lot of time with the member for Nightcliff. What plans does the government have to upgrade public schools?
ANSWER
Mr Deputy Speaker, it is really sad that our budget is up, attendance is up, results are up, but we have a bottom lip that is down. The bottom lip is on the other side.
I thank the member for Drysdale for her question. She visits her schools and has a wonderful relationship with her electorate, particularly the schools. She knows how important education is.
The Country Liberal government is committed to making the Territory simpler, safer and smarter. Today’s students are the future of the Northern Territory and that is why Budget 2015-16 invests $152.4m for a range of education infrastructure in government schools across the Territory. The spending program includes significant minor new works and investment in school upgrades and improvements. Allow me to touch on a few of the highlights of major education capital works:
$33m for repairs and maintenance
$21.4m for stage one of the Palmerston special needs school
$11.6m for minor new works programs
$5.5m for Larapinta Child and Family Centre
$4m for a new preschool at Braitling Primary School
$2.7m for a new administration facility at Kintore Street School
$2.1m for a refurbishment at Wulagi Primary School
$1.3m for an extension at Bees Creek Preschool
$1m for a tempered air system at Anula Primary School.
Budget 2015-16 demonstrates the Country Liberal government’s commitment to education in the Northern Territory. Our schools will continue to grow and the services they deliver will continue to improve. We will not apologise for spending money on making studying and teaching simpler, safer and smarter for our students and teachers. This is a record budget from the Country Liberal government, investing in education, not only in infrastructure but also in delivering that education.
The amount of reform we have put in education in the last couple of years is just short of amazing. We are looking at global school budgeting, independent public schools, rewriting an Education Act that is more than 30 years old;, and looking at Indigenous education for the first time in 15 years and introducing a new way of delivering education for the most needy children in remote locations, hopefully giving them an opportunity they never had under the Labor government, which turned a blind eye to Indigenous issues and used them for their own purposes rather than understanding what can change their lives.
We are investing in education. I am proud to be the Education minister in the NT. Whilst we have come off an incredibly low bar, we have hard-working teachers and a great education system. We will go nowhere but up.
ANSWER
Mr Deputy Speaker, it is really sad that our budget is up, attendance is up, results are up, but we have a bottom lip that is down. The bottom lip is on the other side.
I thank the member for Drysdale for her question. She visits her schools and has a wonderful relationship with her electorate, particularly the schools. She knows how important education is.
The Country Liberal government is committed to making the Territory simpler, safer and smarter. Today’s students are the future of the Northern Territory and that is why Budget 2015-16 invests $152.4m for a range of education infrastructure in government schools across the Territory. The spending program includes significant minor new works and investment in school upgrades and improvements. Allow me to touch on a few of the highlights of major education capital works:
$33m for repairs and maintenance
$21.4m for stage one of the Palmerston special needs school
$11.6m for minor new works programs
$5.5m for Larapinta Child and Family Centre
$4m for a new preschool at Braitling Primary School
$2.7m for a new administration facility at Kintore Street School
$2.1m for a refurbishment at Wulagi Primary School
$1.3m for an extension at Bees Creek Preschool
$1m for a tempered air system at Anula Primary School.
Budget 2015-16 demonstrates the Country Liberal government’s commitment to education in the Northern Territory. Our schools will continue to grow and the services they deliver will continue to improve. We will not apologise for spending money on making studying and teaching simpler, safer and smarter for our students and teachers. This is a record budget from the Country Liberal government, investing in education, not only in infrastructure but also in delivering that education.
The amount of reform we have put in education in the last couple of years is just short of amazing. We are looking at global school budgeting, independent public schools, rewriting an Education Act that is more than 30 years old;, and looking at Indigenous education for the first time in 15 years and introducing a new way of delivering education for the most needy children in remote locations, hopefully giving them an opportunity they never had under the Labor government, which turned a blind eye to Indigenous issues and used them for their own purposes rather than understanding what can change their lives.
We are investing in education. I am proud to be the Education minister in the NT. Whilst we have come off an incredibly low bar, we have hard-working teachers and a great education system. We will go nowhere but up.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016